Revolution 9 Mutant X Soap Opera
by FalconiaBrazil
Summary: It began as an RPG, Angaline, Falconia, GryphonLady, Revolution writing. It became the most action-packed COMPLETE CROSS OVER fic in the fanbase. Mary Sue to the hilt, it has it all, even an audience at PureMX, the Boards! ENJOY! REVIEWS ARE WELCOME!
1. BACK HOME ONCE AGAIN

BACK HOME ONCE AGAIN  
  
Jesse's head darted around the airport. "Where is she?" he asked.  
  
Emma laughed and patted his shoulder. "Relax," she exclaimed "She'll be here."  
  
Riley Jackson, the Revolution, could see them from where she stood, standing under a large skylight. The sunlight causing Emma's hair to look like flames and Jesse's to strongly resemble liquid gold.  
  
"JESSE!" she yelled as she ran down the escalator.  
  
"Rev!" he yelled racing towards her. The girl giggled as he hugged and swung her around.  
  
"Hi, Em," she exclaimed breathlessly.  
  
"Jess...you're choking your girlfriend," she said smiling.  
  
Jesse hugged her one more time and smiled.  
  
"Ready to go home?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, please," she said, kissing him.  
  
Down the other escalator, a smallish figure struggled to juggle a suitcase, a briefcase, several folders and a cane. Every few steps, the folders fall to the ground or the wheels of the suitcase get caught in floor creases and the darned thing tips over. Besides, there were other means of flying, all of them much better than being cooped up in the narrow space of a plane cabin, with stewardesses fussing over you because you're "challenged" and an awful lot of children running up and down the aisles. What a dumb idea to hold a medical conference in Orlando, Florida, of all places! Hot, humid, flat! And they didn't let her in most of those theme park rides because she was... groan... challenged. Political correctness be damned!  
  
That's when the overloaded briefcase decided it was a good time to open and scatter the notes taken during the Mutant Viruses International Conference all over the airport lobby.  
  
'This isn't my lucky day... Or maybe it is!' the small handicapped doctor thought. "Emma!" she cried to the redheaded slender girl the other side of the lobby.  
  
Emma DeLauro, psionic extraordinaire and the doctor's best friend among Adam's team turned, looked at the strange figure, appreciated her sorry situation and doubled over laughing! She lightly elbowed the blonde young man by her side, pointing to where the hunchback was trying to gather together a ton of paper.  
  
'Jesse Kilmartin, thank God its him, and not Brennan.' Even as far as they were, Angela Fontenelle could see clearly the bluest pair of eyes she'd ever seen in her life. And the kindest to boot. But who was the girl hanging from his arm? 'Boy, I should drop by Sanctuary more often.' She could see the girl was not pleased when they came her way, still laughing. Sometimes, eagle-like eyesight was more a curse than a blessing.  
  
"This is uncharitable, you two. Laughing at a cripple! Shame on you!"  
  
"Don't pull the 'poor little cripple' on us, Angela! We know you much better than that." Emma and Jesse started gathering papers while the doctor looked at the girl standing a little further apart.  
  
"Hi, I'm Angela Fontenelle, a friend of Jesse's, Emma's, Shal's... well, Brennan's too, even after I beat him to a pulp in chess." She offered a hand, long fingers, large knuckles, talons and all for a friendly handshake. The girl hesitated, took a deep breath, bit her upper lip and the doctor noticed the look she shared with Jesse. He frowned ever so slightly, but the hunchback knew the "Come on, don't be repulsed" face ten miles away.  
  
'Oh, boy...'  
  
Revolution rolled her eyes Jesse way. Someone forgot where his girlfriend spent most of her childhood. She wasn't repulsed by the woman, she thought to herself, she was wary.  
  
"I'm Revolution," the slender girl exclaimed, taking the woman's hand in hers "Jesse's girlfriend." She yawned and telekinetically lifted her large purple suitcase up and put in Jesse's arms.  
  
"Be a dear?" She asked, kissing his cheek.  
  
"Of course," he replied.  
  
"So you beat Sparky at chess, did ya?" she asked the women as they walked away "Bet the Ole spark plug loved that."  
  
Gathering the last items scattered around the floor and trying to close Angela's overflowing briefcase, Emma laughed. That was a cherished memory, Brennan's chess demise.  
  
"The story is a little different. And it happened before you joined Mutant X and came to live in Sanctuary." Emma explained, while heading to the exit. "Jesse, we can give Tweety here a lift home."  
  
"Thanks, I was hoping you would. Anyway, Adam had brought me here from Brazil after my mother passed away and I was living in Sanctuary, studying mutant physiology. " The pace was slowed, walking in boots was difficult and the crippled woman leaned heavily on her cane. "I was shy around people I didn't know, but I wanted to fit in. One night, Emma was playing chess by herself. I love chess. I was Brazilian and South American amateur champ, you know?"  
  
Emma caught up on the narrative. "Brennan repeated that old quip of Jesse's about having my own butt kicked. Angela heard and suggested that we pulled Bren's leg. I'd challenge him, and pick the moves from her mind. With her eyes, she could see the board from afar." Emma couldn't go on, it was so funny...  
  
By that time, the girl Revolution was following the story like it was a tennis match, looking from Emma to Angela and back, while they headed to the airport parking lot.  
  
"Brennan and Emma played four matches and she won them all." Angela went on. "By the third match, they had an audience. Brennan was so desperate he kept looking at Adam, who kept his best poker face on, begging for help. "  
  
"On the fourth match, it was mate in three!" Emma exclaimed while Jesse loaded the luggage in the SUVs trunk. "We captured his king in three moves! Revenge was mine! Brennan blew a fuse!"  
  
Moods were high and they were all laughing. "Where do we drop you off? Home or clinic?" asked Jesse.  
  
"Home, please! I miss Ally and I'm really tired," said Angela. "Dragging this junk all the way back was a pain."  
  
"Your loft it is, then." And Jesse set the car in motion.  
  
&&&  
  
"So Rev?" asked Emma from the back seat "Lux teach you any nifty tricks?"  
  
The girl smiled.  
  
"Well, I can now successfully float for miles without dropping from the sky," she replied laughing.  
  
"Is that what you were practicing when I visited last?" asked Jesse.  
  
Revolution pushed her long red hair behind her ear and nodded.  
  
"Broke an arm too," she said laughing.  
  
Sitting with Emma in the back, the dark skinned woman studied the girl riding shotgun. Pretty... Slender... Looks so young... But there was something wild about her, a shadow of haunting in her eyes. It reminded her of certain birds... Hawks! Yes, as if she had suffered a lot in her few years, but retained all the fire of an indomitable spirit. She was always wary, always on the look out. And always very ready. She was a hawk, alright.  
  
"Clean fracture?" the hunchback bit her tongue, she shouldn't butt in the conversation. "Sorry, but I'm a doctor. How does your arm feel?"  
  
She turned to the stranger and pierced her with those fierce clear eyes of hers. So wary... so defensive...  
  
Angela looked at Emma, who gave her a sad smile. This girl brings all Emma's compassion to the surface. The telempath touched her own heart and the bent woman got the message: Revolution had seen a lot, suffered a lot and survived a lot.  
  
They were near the loft Angela shared with Allison Turner, who ran all Underground day-to-day activities when the sound of a Fire Squad siren sounded behind the SUV. Jesse pulled over to let the red truck go by. Another red truck shot from the corner and headed in the same direction the SUV was pointed to. Bystanders ran to the spot, trying to see what was going on. Inside the vehicle, four people very used to dealing with catastrophe looked at each other.  
  
Jesse floored the SUV, trying to reach the loft, but traffic was jamming up. He turned to the right, looking for a back way and they managed to approach the building from behind. It was surrounded by firemen, onlookers, policemen...  
  
Jumping out of the car, the four mutants couldn't believe what they were seeing: the whole building where Angela and Allison shared a home was burning, but it was no regular fire. There were no flames shooting out of the windows, neither there was smoke pouring out and climbing to the sky. Only small bluish flames could be seeing engulfing the second floor. The heat was unbearable and the walls were turning black fast. The blue fire seemed to be coming from the inside out and the apartment was rapidly turning to cinders.  
  
Taking in the disaster, Jesse, Emma, Riley and Angela could do nothing but stare at the weird bonfire. Suddenly, snapping out of her stupor, Angela looked at her wristwatch checking the hour. She felt the cold hand of panic close around her heart as she screamed, "ALLISON!!!" 


	2. CATASTROPHE!

CATASTROPHE!   
  
"Come on!" Revolution yelled.  
  
Jesse looked at Emma who nodded. They ran into the burning building, Revolution using her telekinesis to spread the fire out and away from them.  
  
"Where would she be?!" asked Emma.  
  
"Quickly," hissed Revolution "I can only hold this back for so long." The ground was hot to the touch, so Revolution turned the sprinklers on.  
  
The sprinklers rained on them, but seemed to be useless against the bluish fire that surrounded every object in the house. The heat was increasing exponentially and Revolution already showed the impact of the extreme effort of blocking off the fire. The blue light was stronger in the bedroom. Jesse and Emma ran through the door, Jesse leading the way. As soon as he saw what was inside, he turned around and stopped the young psionic in her tracks.  
  
"It's too late!"  
  
"Lets get outta here!" Yelled Revolution. "I can't keep it up any longer!"  
  
Jesse grabbed both girls in his arms and phased down the floor to the ground. They ran out of the burning building as the heat intensified to a point where all the things inside burst out in a raging fire that promptly engulfed the whole second floor and smoke started to spiral upwards to the cloudless sky.  
  
Revolution could feel the burns on her face as Jesse laid her gently on the back seat of the SUV. "Did we..." she started to ask. Jesse shook his head sadly. "Damnit!" she whispered.  
  
She didn't dare look at the other women, she felt like she had let her down somehow.  
  
They didn't see the body but one look at Emma and they knew. Jesse swore under his breath as Emma held on tightly to the sobbing Angela. Revolution felt sick. She slid out of the SUV and ran to a patch of grass where she commenced to empty the lunch she had eaten onto the ground.  
  
&&&  
  
The dark colored woman saw them as they entered the building. Her heart was beating uncontrollably in her chest, it seemed it would jump out of her mouth. The wait wasn't long. With her eagle eyes, she saw them as soon as they came running out of the bonfire, now in full rage. Jesse and Emma ran to the woman, managing to evade the firemen and bystanders now starting to crowd the place. The girl Revolution was cradled in Jesse's arms, her face red from the heat. Jesse laid her in the back and, in my shock, she heard her ask, "Did we..." and he slowly shook his head. The ugly woman's hands started to shake, then her shoulders, then her whole body was shaking and a cry of pure grief shot out of her throat as the tears poured out of her eyes. "Allison was my friend, my partner, my companion, the one person who loved me no matter how ugly I was," she sobbed and howled her pain to the sky as she felt Emma's arms around her and she knew that the telempath felt every ounce of hurt that tore at her soul. And Allison was Emma's friend, too. They cried together for a long time.  
  
Revolution stood up and was immediately enveloped into Jesse's arms. "You all right?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," she whispered pushing him away "Come on, we got to get them back to Sanctuary."  
  
Taking his hand, she walked slowly to the others. "I don't mean to sound heartless," she said "But we need to get outta here."  
  
Emma wiped her eyes and nodded. "Come on, Angela," she whispered gently.  
  
The ride back to Sanctuary was silent and gloomy. Moods so high just a little while ago came crashing down. Jesse drove, Riley looked through the window and Angela cried, curled up in the back seat, with Emma's arms around her. The tidal wave of grief and sorrow emanating from the hunchback was almost more than she could bear. Angela had lost more than a friend, she had lost the love of her life.  
  
As soon as the majestic Stormking mountain came into view, Emma sensed Angela tense as the feral whipped her head up, emotions at a breaking point raging within her body. Angela's claustrophobia, already put to the test in the confined space of the airplane's cabin, was reaching a maddening level, making the winged woman restless at the sight of the mountain.  
  
"Stop the car, please, Jesse." Emma asked softly.  
  
"Why? What's wrong, Em?" alarm ringing in the molecular's voice.  
  
Angela couldn't stand it any more. "Just do it!" she cried.  
  
Jesse hit the brakes hard.  
  
Opening the door in a storm, Angela kicked off her boots showing her strange feet and stepped out and ran shedding her coat. Her wings unfurled to it's full extent and, with a leap, she was flying higher and higher.  
  
"Oh, my God, look at her!" Exclaimed a startled Revolution, craning her neck to the creature already almost out of sight. "What was that?"  
  
"Angela is an Avian feral, the only one Adam knows about. She wasn't even listed in his databanks." Explained Emma. "When her mother died, her father called him and he went to Brazil to bring her here. She was the only mutant in that country."  
  
"Jesus, we feel lonely here, where there are some of us," said Revolution.  
  
"Imagine what it would feel like to be the only one in a whole country," added Jesse, draping his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. 


	3. FRIENDLY CONVERSATION

FRIENDLY CONVERSATION   
  
Revolution held tightly onto Jesse's hand as they walked slowly into Sanctuary.  
  
"Rev!" yelled Brennan.  
  
"Riley!" yelled Shalimar.  
  
They were so excited to see her. It would be nice to have someone around who was at times as wild as they were.  
  
"What happened?" asked Adam noticing the tired, sad looks in their eyes.  
  
Emma wiped a tear from her eye and looked at Jesse. "Well," exclaimed Jesse "We saw Angela at the airport and offered to give her a ride back to her loft..."  
  
"She should be returning from the mutant viruses conference in Orlando,"Adam nodded.  
  
"When we got to the loft," continued Jesse, "the whole thing was on fire."  
  
"Oh.My.God," whispered Shalimar "Allison...is she?"  
  
Emma looked at Shalimar and nodded sadly.  
  
The feral placed a hand to her mouth in shock.  
  
"Where's Angela?" asked Adam, his voice thick with worry.  
  
"She flew off when we got here." said Emma.  
  
Adam looked at Revolution. "Do you think you could...." he started.  
  
"Sure, I'll go find her," replied Revolution.  
  
Floating around the mountain top, Revolution pulled her jacket tighter around her as the wind blew. "I swear I've passed that same rock ten times," she whispered "Where the hell is she?"  
  
Hearing the flapping of wings above her head, she sees the large shadow of a bird cloud the sky.  
  
"Bingo", she whispered and propelled herself to the highest point of the hill.  
  
Angela perched on a twisted tree trunk, watching the sun go down. She folded her wings, enveloping her body to protect it against the cold and the wind.  
  
"Hey, kid?" asked Revolution. "You all right?"  
  
Angela turned her head, looked at the girl Revolution and went back to watch the sunset. It'd been a long time since anyone called her "kid".  
  
"Fine. You mind if I sit out here with you? Adam isn't big on me smoking in the homestead." she exclaimed pulling a lighter and cigarettes from her pocket.  
  
"Suit yourself, it's a free country."  
  
"Sure," replied Revolution, sliding her hands into her pockets.  
  
"Revolution... What a nickname..."  
  
She smiled. "My first boss gave it to me," she replied laughing slightly.  
  
"Mind giving me one of those?" asked Angela, pointing to Rev's cigarette.  
  
She handed her a cigarette and the lighter. "So...not to be rude...but what is your mutation?" she asked sitting on a rock.  
  
Lighting the cigarette with the slight cough of an ex-smoker, Angela answered matter-of-factly. "I'm a feral. Actually, I'm a hybrid, not a new mutant. My genes have stabilized."  
  
"Must be nice," exclaimed Revolution, her thoughts drifting to her own constant mutations  
  
Angela laughed without any humor and showed her ugly taloned hands and feet to the younger mutant. "Not really. Do I look nice?"  
  
"I mean nice as in knowing that this is how its going to be, that fate isn't gonna say hey you're having fun, lets give you something else to screw up your life."  
  
Angela dragged the cigarette smoked deep to her lungs. "Yes, this is pretty definitive. I'll never be anything else but a freak, just like my father used to call me three times a day."  
  
"Mine just sent me away, to be tortured and experimented on," whispered Revolution not realizing that she had said it louder than intended.  
  
The winged woman tore her eyes from the sunset and looked at the girl. She had been right. This one had seen a lot, suffered a lot and survived a lot. "Tell me. It seems we have things in common."  
  
"My parents sent me to Genomex when I was 9 for 'treatments', which was the cute name they gave to a experiment into the healing process of Psionic mutants. We were cut, beaten, our bones broken and much, much worse."  
  
"I was luckier," said Angela. "My father just never looked at me. Never talked to me. And I attended a regular school. Looking like this. His brainstorm, you know? She's a freak, lets make her a cripple."  
  
"I never finished high school," sighed Rev, shivering. The mountain top is cold and windy.  
  
"You cold?" asked Angela.  
  
"Sort of."  
  
"Come here." Revolution floated to the tree where Angela was perching. The winged woman unfolded her wings and draped them around Revolution. "You're young, you have time. But you don't really need it, do you? I mean, formal education."  
  
"Never really thought about it." Inside Angela's wings it was warm and cozy.  
  
"Yeah... You're lucky about one thing, though..." Angela's eyes filled with tears. "Love is a rare commodity, Rev. In my case, even more so. Stick to it. Never let go..."  
  
'Oh, God,' thought Revolution, 'She's crying. What do I do?' She reached over and rather pathetically patted Angela's shoulder.  
  
The feral hybrid smiled through the tears. "Thanks, I'm fine. I had to fly, you know. Flight heals me. It renovates me... It's just that I was hurting so much..." She sighed. It felt oddly comfortable to confide in the young, wild psonic. "I loved her, Rev. Allison... We were more than just roommates. She offered me love and I took it. It lasted a little over one year, but I was never so happy. And now... it's over."  
  
"We'll find who did this, I promise and I never revoke a promise," said the fierce, determined girl.  
  
"I believe you... Revolution... I really do." They turned to the blazing sun that turned Stormking into a mystic realm. "Beautiful, isn't it?"  
  
"Guess..." answered Revolution with a large smiled that brightened her eyes. "Nature ain't really my thing."  
  
"It is mine, Revolution," Angela smiled back. "It is mine. Lets get inside." 


	4. NO REST FOR THE WEARY

No Rest for the Weary  
  
"Rev?" asked Jesse as he walked quietly into the lab "What are you doing?"  
  
Revolution rubbed her eyes and smiled.  
  
"Just seeing if I can get anything from the security cameras at Angela and Allison's flat," she whispered.  
  
Jesse laughed.  
  
"That's my girl, but seriously, hon, why don't you go to bed?"  
  
He ran his hands through her loose hair as she typed.  
  
"I tried," she replied "I'm so tired, but I can't seem to sleep."  
  
"Your arm?" he asked.  
  
Revolution looked down at the light blue cast that was a shocking contrast to her pale skin and shook her head. She wanted to tell her boyfriend what Angela had told her on the mountain top but knew that would be betraying the older women's trust.  
  
"It's nothing," she replied as she leaned over and kissed him.  
  
"Want to go watch a movie?" he asked hoping that it would help her sleep.  
  
"Sure," she replied saving her work and taking his hand.  
  
&&&  
  
"Did you sleep at all?"  
  
From her perch on the edge of the open skylight above the pond, Angela didn't have to look to know who the tenor voice belonged to. "Not a wink. Do you sleep at all?"  
  
"On occasion," was the answer. "On those infrequent moments, I dream."  
  
"Do you? 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'?" She barked a laugh.  
  
"Phillip K. Dick... Great story. 'If you're not human, then it's all different'", he quoted  
  
"Of Mathematical equations and chemical solutions, then?"  
  
"Of what we do not have and wish for: peace and a chance love and be loved." He sighed. "Blessed are those who've found a true companion, ladyhawk."  
  
Angela's eyes never left the horizon, now clear with sunlight. "Yes, I've been blessed. I've known less pain than most of my kind. And I had Ally." She took a deep, long breath. "I was happy. And I'll never be lonely again, because for a whole year, my life was full, my heart, complete."  
  
The sun was riding high, the sky was bluer than a robin's egg. Angela stretched, her wings unfurled to their full extent.  
  
"Good morning, Adam. I won't be long."  
  
And she flew away to let the immense joy of freedom heal the immense sorrow of loss. 


	5. CAT COMES HOME

Cat comes home  
  
Cat looked around and there was nobody there. Guess they had forgotten that she was due back today. Oh well with Rev gone, the place had felt very lonely. There were voices coming from the kitchen, Brennan's among them. As she walked in, he choked on his drink.  
  
"Oh, God, I'd forgotten you were coming home today. Baby, I'm sorry! With everything that's gone on in the last few days..." he explained.  
  
Cat didn't say a word. She reached for a drink and walked out again. Her friends had forgotten all about her. Had Rev done that same? Had her best friend forgotten about her?  
  
Walking into the lab, Cat stopped short when she saw Rev. She was back and nobody told her she was home. Turning around, Cat ran into Jesse. "I'm sorry, Cat. I should have told you she was back," he said.  
  
"No big deal. I have the feeling I'm not wanted around here anymore. So maybe I should just leave," Cat said with tears in her voice. Her home didn't feel like home anymore. She walked aimlessly around the hallways until she got to the pond. The shadow of a large bird flew over her head. Cat sat down heavily by the waterfall that ran from the wall. She had missed Rev and the others, but getting away had been the best thing for her.  
  
"Hey,hon," whispered Revolution as she walked over to where Cat stood gazing sadly into the pond "What's wrong?"  
  
Cat wiped a stray tear from her cheek and shook her head.  
  
"It's nothing," she replied.  
  
"Liar," said Revolution nudging her gently.  
  
Cat laughed and shook her head.  
  
"Later," she exclaimed.  
  
Revolution wrapped her arm around Cat's shoulder.  
  
"I sure did miss you," she said.  
  
Cat was like a sister to her. The feral had risked her life to help Revolution and that was something Revolution would never forget.  
  
"What happened to your arm?" asked Cat.  
  
Revolution giggled. "Rev fall down and go boom," she replied.  
  
Cat laughed.  
  
"Why is everyone so down in the dumps?" asked Cat.  
  
"Wow, aren't you just bursting with the inquisitiveness today?" asked Revolution laughing.  
  
Cat looked at Revolution, she could see large bags under her best friend's eyes, eyes that were filled with typical Revolution style fury.  
  
"Do you know Allison Turner?" asked Revolution.  
  
"I don't know her personally, I know of her. I think Brennan introduced me to her once."  
  
"She was murdered yesterday," said Revolution.  
  
Cat could feel anger rip through her as Revolution described the situation to her. She may not have known Allison very well, but no one especially someone who seemed as nice as Allison deserved that kind of death.  
  
"What are we going to do about it?" asked Cat.  
  
"I don't know, Everyone's still kind of in shock about it," replied Revolution "You should have seen it, it was horrible."  
  
Cat instinctively enveloped the younger girl in her arms.  
  
"We'll find who did this," she whispered.  
  
Revolution sat back up and straightened her shoulders. Her posture regaining its pride. She nodded.  
  
"Guys?" asked Shalimar "Breakfast is ready." 


	6. MISSIONS AND EXPLANATIONS

Missions and Explanations  
  
The sun was blazing in the early morning and they were all gathered in the kitchen for breakfast. There was no mood for small talk and they mostly ate in silence, Shalimar drinking milk, Cat taking a lifetime to butter some toast, Brennan, Jesse and Revolution picking at their eggs and Emma staring at the bowl of fruit in front of her, apparently undecided on what to pick. The perfume of Adam's favorite green tea and mint blend scented the air.  
  
"I keep seeing it over and over." Emma gave up choosing any fruit. Hunger evaded her thoroughly. "It was horrible."  
  
All heads turned to the young psionic, and Shalimar, always protective, reached out to hold Emma's hands.  
  
"I thought I had stopped you before you could see inside the bedroom." Jesse ran his hands through his thick golden hair and closed his eyes, trying to ward off the haunting image of the day before. "Honestly, Adam," he said, turning to address his friend and mentor, "I've never seen anything so gruesome."  
  
The older man's dark eyes closed up on Jesse's. "Tell me."  
  
"The apartment was like an oven, but the fire was blue and small," interjected Riley, the team's telekinetic. "It was only later that it went up in flames."  
  
"And the body?" Asked Adam.  
  
"There wasn't much left of it," answered Jesse. "Mostly the extremities, like feet and hands. It was lying on the bed and the thighs, torso, up to the neck and lower face..." the young molecular shuddered at the gory memory. "It was torched, burnt to a cinder."  
  
"And you say the rest of the apartment showed signs of burning too?" asked Adam, a puzzled look on his face.  
  
"Yes, every piece of furniture, every appliance, was surrounded by the blue fire," added Emma. "They were all blackening, turning into cinders and coal..."  
  
"...but nothing exploded in normal flames and smoke," completed the young Revolution. "It was only later that the heat got so bad the place blew up like bomb."  
  
"That's very odd! It's different of any case of spontaneous combustion I've ever heard of." Adam was puzzled.  
  
"That's because it wasn't common spontaneous human combustion, if this phenomenon can ever be called common." The voice came from above, from the open skylight overlooking the kitchen. A winged creature was perched on the edge. All eyes turned to the voice and they all stood up to greet their grieving friend.  
  
Cat couldn't believe what she saw. That feral was certainly unique. She looked at Rev and mouthed "What's that?" Revolution gave her a little smile and mouthed back, "Later."  
  
The falcon woman alighted and was immediately enveloped into the arms of the blonde feline feral. Angela buried her head on the cat woman's shoulder and encircled her in a tight embrace. They held to each other, sharing the loss of friend and lover. "How do you feel, Tweety?" asked Shalimar.  
  
Angela breathed deep, gently pushed the cat back and gave her a little smile. "It hurts like hell, Sylvester, but I'll survive."  
  
"Have you eaten?" asked Emma.  
  
"No, I don't think I can hold anything solid inside for the moment," Angela turned to the black clad man leaning against the counter, "but this herb tea of yours smells great, Adam."  
  
"I'll get you some," he said, "and I agree with you. This whole affair doesn't sound like anything I've ever read or heard about SHC."  
  
"What's SHC?" Asked Cat, nibbling at her toast.  
  
"Spontaneous Human Combustion. It is the ability of the human body to blister or smoke or ignite in the absence of any external source of ignition," answered Angela, eyeing the one member of the team she didn't know yet. "The fire is of internal origin."  
  
"Many say it's been recorded as early as in the Bible. In the last three centuries, there have been as much as two hundred documented cases. The first one seems to be from the fifteenth century." Adam handed the bird feral a mug of steaming tea.  
  
"Yes! Jonas Dupont published De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis," added Angela.  
  
Revolution and Cat had question marks drawn all over t heir faces. "The what?" asked the two in one voice.  
  
"A collection of cases and studies," explained Adam, sipping his tea.  
  
The whole team seemed enthralled by the weird tale. It sounded like a horror short story. Brennan's face lit up like a lamp. "Wait a minute! Do you remember Dicken's Bleak House, Adam?" Literature was the young mutant's field of expertise.  
  
"Sure! The death of the heavy drinking Krook!"  
  
"I read it in high school," interjected Emma. "Krook burned to a crisp."  
  
"Over the years, several other cases were documented: Countess Cornelia de Bandi Cesenate, Anna Martin, Dr. J. Irving Bentley, and maybe the most famous of all, Mary Reeser, who torched up while seating in her rocking chair." Adam was in full professor mode.  
  
"Did you memorize all these names?" Revolution was amazed.  
  
"I read about SHC once, long ago."  
  
"And you kept it all in your head?" the girl insisted.  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
"Big head..." she muttered just loud enough to get chuckles all around.  
  
"All of these cases," Angela took over the makeshift classroom, "have one very strange thing in common, though. The fire never spread away from the body. Only the victim's immediate vicinity was scorched."  
  
Nodding his head, Adam picked up the tale as if it were a tennis ball. "Yes, victims have burnt up in bed without the sheets catching fire, clothing worn is often barely singed, and flammable materials only inches away remain untouched."  
  
By then, the rest of the team was watching as the two doctors in the house tossed the narrative like a volleyball from one to the other. 'This is ridiculous. I'll end up with a stiff neck!' thought Riley Jackson.  
  
"Have you ever seen the aftermath of one of these cases, Adam?"  
  
"No, they're extremely rare, surrounded in mystery," the older man answered. "They're a favorite of ocultists and alternative sciences adepts."  
  
"Well, for your information, I have," affirmed the bird feral, then turned to the other mutants. "In my country, Brazil, medical students are required to spend time as interns in public hospital ERs. In big metropolitan areas like Rio or São Paulo, it's almost like combat training, due to shootouts, violent muggings, gang wars, and so on. Brazilian doctors have even gone to Israel to learn combat trauma techniques. I've met one who went as an invited professor."  
  
Angela paused, collected her thoughts and proceeded with the tale. Now, even Adam was enthralled. "Up North, where I was born and raised, the main problems are malnutrition, parasitic infections, death in childbirth and in early childhood. Well, every misfortune squalor and filth can bring."  
  
"You were born in Brazil? Neat." Cat interrupted. "And where did you see this combustion thing happen?"  
  
"In a shack over the marshes, near Recife, my home town," answered the bird woman. "I was an intern in the public hospital ER there and we were called on site by a frantic policeman. Guys, policemen in my country have seen it all and then some. This one was out of his mind with fear. He was babbling something about demons, evil spirits, fire from hell, this kind of thing."  
  
Cat's eyes were like saucers. "Demons, really? Wow!"  
  
"The African legacy is strong in Brazil, Cat." Adam, in full professor mode, was hard to stop. "The slaves brought their beliefs with them, but the Portuguese regarded their Nature-based gods as demons and imposed Roman Catholicism on them. They mixed the two theologies and created a third, composed religion. Fascinating, really."  
  
Angela picked up the narrative again. "The on site team, myself included, hopped on the ambulance and sped up there." The bird feral closed her eyes, remembering a very shocking scene. "We were expecting a full blaze, firemen, the works, but there was nothing, just the one police car that attended the neighbor's call. We entered the shack and, on a cot, the remains of a man were melted to the mattress. I could see it had been a man by the size and shape of the feet and hands. That was it, there was nothing left but the hands and feet. Everything else was torched." She looked around, as if she was building up the suspense like a good storyteller. "Even stranger was the fact that only the spot where the body had been lying was scorched. The sheets around it hadn't been even singed! It was unbelievable! Pathology determined that the fire had to be at least at 3,000 F to achieve that level of obliteration. Folks, a crematorium heat is 2,000 F tops!"  
  
Shalimar and Cat shuddered, their pyrophobia shooting up several degrees, together with the description of the combustion heat. "And you say nothing around the body had been burned?" asked Shalimar.  
  
"That's impossible! This kind of heat is beyond the point of explosion, when everything simply burst into flames!" Jesse's eyes were as wide open as everybody else's.  
  
"That's not impossible, that's typical!" counteracted Adam. "It is something all SHC records have in common: nothing else is burned, sometimes, not even the victim's clothes."  
  
Angela cut in, "That's why I say..."  
  
"...this was not a case of Spontaneous Human Combustion..." Adam interrupted.  
  
"...not as they've been recorded time and again!" Angela shot back.  
  
'Oh, they're at it again!' thought Revolution, running her hands through her hair.  
  
During the whole conversation, Adam had been calculating and forming a plan of action, his mind working in many levels at once. "Very well, here's what I want you to do. Brennan, you, Angela and Shalimar will go to the loft and look for anything off kilter. Mainly, the presence of accelerants. It they've been used, and I very much doubt it, Shalimar will be able to smell them." He turned to Jesse and Cat. "We are paying a visit to the morgue. I want samples from the body. I want to be sure it is really Allison and maybe I can identify any unnatural causes for the combustion, if there was any."  
  
"Adam, I'm sorry, I don't mean to question you..." Angela stood up slowly and looked directly into her friend and teacher's eyes, "but you know I should be going to the morgue. You'd be in a better position to see clues I wouldn't notice, and I can collect samples as well as you."  
  
"I know, but not in this case."  
  
"I've passed Pathology with flying colors, Adam. And I had a nickname for each corpse I dissected with my right hand while eating a hamburger with my left!" Angela was intense.  
  
"This is no Jack, Jill or Joe whose body has ended up in a Med. School lab, Angela." Adam could be equally intense, if not more. "This is Allison we're talking about."  
  
"All the more reason to do it right. Falconer, trust your bird-of-prey."  
  
Adam took a deep breath. He knew all along she was right, he just wished he could spare her this fresh amount of suffering. Biting his upper lip in a very Adamesque gesture . "You know I trust you, Angela," he relented. "So be it. You go to the morgue, but take Brennan along. And Jesse. Today is Sunday, there must be just a skeleton crew there. Take the samples and come back fast." He looked around. "Cat, you're with me and Shalimar. We will search the loft and see what we can come up with." Adam, then, turned his eyes to Emma and Revolution. "Riley, I need your hacking skills. Break into the police, DA's office and Medical Examiner's communications. And their databanks. I want to know everything there is about this case first hand. And I want a research on all SHC cases and odd fire cases ever reported. The latest cases, especially involving VIPs are priority. There was one case in Monaco last year involving an extremely wealthy banker named Safra. I want all files. You and Emma are on it. I want to know if important people have been bursting into flames lately."  
  
The members of Mutant X were leaving the kitchen to prepare for their different missions. "Tweety?" Adam called.  
  
Angela stopped by the door but didn't turn to her mentor. "Yes, falconer?"  
  
"Fly high," he said.  
  
"Seek peace," she answered. 


	7. A FAVOR

A Favor

In the hallway, as the various team mates scattered to get ready, Emma and Rev were heading to the main computer while Cat and Shalimar went over the equipment needed for their investigation. Coming from the kitchen, Angela touched Emma's arm. "Do you have a minute?"  
  
"For you, Tweety, as many as you want," answered the red-headed psionic, already aware of what the older feral was feeling that moment: embarrassment.

"Emma..." Angela started and stopped, trying to find the courage to proceed. "Would you do me a favor, please?""Whatever you need, just name it." Emma felt Angela's discomfort grow heavier."If we make a positive identification of the remains and determine they're really Allison's..." Angela paused and took a deep breath. "If it is really Allison... and I think it is, Emma, I can feel it...""I know, Tweety, go on.""If it is Allison," Angela repeated, "would you, please, warn her parents? I'll talk to Vince and Ruby to arrange things so the Underground will go on as usual, but could you, please, warn Allison's parents? I can't. You know how they feel."A few feet away, having heard the conversation, Cat's feral temper flared and she asked, "What is it? They don't like mutants?"Emma shot her a look that all but froze the feline.Angela looked at the stranger and smiled sadly, her eyes filled with tears. "They like mutants fine, dear. They just don't like dikes."

Cat looked at the woman. "Sorry, I didn't know. I only met Allison once when Brennan introduced us."

Cat walked back over to Shalimar. "Shal, tell me about your friend. You know that I don't take to new people all that easily." she said to her fellow feral.Shalimar laughed. Cat had been having a hard time of late dealing with people. She didn't go out with Brennan like she had before. "What can I tell you? She's an Avian feral. Adam has known her longer than the rest of us, he can tell you more. Or you can just ask her," Shalimar stated.Cat froze and looked at Shalimar. "I don't know. I..." she stopped and looked at the other woman. "I can't seem to be able to deal with people right now," she told her friend.Shalimar picked up the pack she had just finished getting ready. "I've noticed. So have the others. Talk to me, Cat. What's going on? All Emma tells us is that you're sad about something. What's got you all out of sorts, girlfriend?" she asked.Cat handed Shalimar the newspaper article. It was dated not long after Rev had left. Shal read the announcement. "Dr. April Scott died last night after a year-long fight with cancer. Family members will lay her to rest on Tuesday. She is remembered by her four children, Catherine Kay, Marie, Mike, and Silvia." Shalimar looked at Cat. "Your mother! Oh, Cat why didn't you say something to us?" she asked."I hadn't seen my mother since I was fourteen. I was shocked to see my name even in the paper as one of her children. I ran away from her because I was tired of her trying to make me into something I could never be." The anger in her voice easy to hear."What was that, Cat?" Shal askedCat looked at Shalimar her eyes flashing for a brief second their feral gold. "Normal!"

   
Cat picked up her pack and headed out to meet up with Adam in the lab. He took one look at Cat, and could tell something was wrong with the young feral. "Maybe you should stay here." he said to her.

"An do what? I can't use a computer. They tend to blow up when I do," she joked, but very little humor could be heard in her voice. "I need a job to do."


	8. FIGHT THE POWER

Fight The Power

Revolution pulled her ponytail through the back of Jesse's ratty old baseball hat and set to work.  
  
"I don't know how you do this," exclaimed Emma as she set a can of coke beside Revolution "Computers make my head hurt."

"Stick with me kid, and I'll have you navigating the superhighways like one of the Andretti brothers." said Revolution."Jesse tried to teach me all this once," exclaimed Emma.Revolution laughed."Ah, but my boy is a mere amateur...Oh Balls!""What?" asked Emma."Another damn dead end!" said Revolution "Ah hell, I'll do the CIA later, the FBI is a far easier target.""You know, for some strange reason, that sentence makes me highly uncomfortable."Revolution laughed."Well, looky here." said Emma."What is it?" asked Revolution."Three Japanese business men die in strange fire."Emma handed Rev the translated pages from the Asahi Shimbum, the major Japanese paper.  
  
"Says they were owners of Aircorp, a company that manufactures airplane parts." said Revolution.  
  
Emma laughed when Revolution's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. Her fingers flew across the keyboard with incredible speeds."A Ha!" she yelled."What is it?" asked Emma."Airplane parts, my ass!" yelled Revolution.Revolution pointed to the computer screen where the FBI had so conveniently kept records of the actions of major terrorists factions. A faction based in California had order several pounds of high powered explosives from AirCorp."New Order...New Order." said Emma."Name sound familiar?" asked Rev."Yeah...keep looking. I gotta go give Lux a call.""Not a problem," said Rev taking a swig of her coke.Emma dialed the familiar number and smiled when Lux Windsor's face filled the screen."Hello, friend," Lux exclaimed smiling brightly."Hello, friend," said Emma in return."What can I do for you?""New Order."Emma saw the immediate fury in the beautiful women's face."Who are they, Lux?" asked Emma."A dangerous group of mutants." said Lux tucking her hair behind her ears.So someone took out the businessmen who had been selling explosives to mutants? thought Emma."Can you send me any information you have on them?"Lux nodded.Revolution watched in awe as new cases of SHC popped up. Tel Aviv, India, England, Indonesia, Bosnia.

"Did you find anything?" asked Emma as she came back in.

"Yes," replied Revolution "We need to call Adam and tell him."


	9. BRING HER HOME FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEA...

Bring Her Home from the House of the Dead

Leaving the bedroom she used before moving in with Allison, Angela, in doctor's whites, boots and cane, and carrying a characteristic doctor's briefcase, ran into the feline feral, Cat, and Brennan. The feline actually apologized for her remark. There was such an enormous amount of pain emanating from the young woman that Angela, even without any psionic telempathic powers could feel the deep and ancient hurt inside her soul. After introductions, the cat woman went her way and Brennan mused almost to himself, "She's not herself, and she wont talk to any of us about what's wrong."

"Maybe..." answered Angela. "Maybe she can't. Maybe she doesn't even know how to tell anyone what's wrong."

From the main computer, Riley Jackson, aka Revolution, called. "I have Allison's case number. And the location of the... ahem... remains." And she handed Angela a printout.

"Can you call up a blueprint of the morgue and Forensics lab facility?" asked the bird feral.

"Coming up!"

The space above the console lit up as the holographic image of the building formed on thin air. "The remains are..." started the hacker.

"Let me guess," interrupted Angela. "They are in the Forensics Odontology and Anthropology labs. Here and there."

"Yes, how did you know? Are you psionic?" asked an amazed Revolution.

"No, it's simple logic," came the answer. "After a case of SHC, there's not much left of the body. Here, besides the SHC, there was a regular fire. What was left must have been obliterated. Our only hope is teeth and bone. And not many of them."

Adam, Cat and Shalimar were on their way to the loft. "Angela?" he called her while passing the trio studying the hologram.

"Yes?" Angela's eyes left the image, as she turned to face the man she called "falconer".

"Bring it all here, not just samples," he instructed his bird-of-prey, his voice heavy with sadness. "We will make the identification and bury her in the Hall of the Fallen, where we've buried Richard Saunders."

The winged woman nodded and the glint of a tear shone in the corner of her eye, which she quickly blinked away.

"Emma and I have already talked to Allison's parents." Adam went on. "They're not coming."

Angela stole a glance at Emma, then at Cat. Their eyes met. They understood.

"Are you ready?" asked Brennan, taking the briefcase from the feral's hand.

"As I'll ever be," she answered.

Seeing that they were all gathered in the main computer room, each on his or her way to a painful assignment, Adam surveilled his inner circle, his eyes laying on each face. "Good luck to us all."

&&&

Angela and Brennan met Jesse in the garage. The young molecular was waiting for them  
at the wheel of the minivan. "Good thinking. An inconspicuous car, that's exactly what we want," said the feral woman. "Lets go."

&&&

They arrived at the City's Forensics Lab and Medical Examiner Offices by lunch time. The technical crew, restricted to the few already attending to cases, should be eating their meals, and security shouldn't be hard to avoid.

Jesse phased a back door and they broke into the building. The men, wearing lab coats, passed as technicians. Angela, a real doctor, should go unnoticed. "Nobody looks twice to a cripple," she said as they looked for the Forensic Odontology room.The three mutants quickly made their way through the maze of corridors and hallways. The Odontology room was empty, no-one in sight. The locked door was no challenge to Jesse and he let the feral bird woman enter, while he and Brennan guarded the door against any intruders.   
  
On the counter, in full view, the latest hot case evidence, a plaster mold with all the blackened teeth found on the crime scene neatly inserted in their right places. Fishing a plastic box from the briefcase, Angela rapidly had the mold secured.They left Odontology and headed to Anthropology. Through the bay window, they saw a man in doctor's garb carefully laying down and labeling charred pieces of bone on a long metal table. Angela signaled Jesse, and he silently phased through the door. One quick blow to the back of the head and the man crumpled to the floor. Jesse opened the door to Brennan and Angela.While the young men locked the unconscious technician into a cabinet, Angela checked the labels, the case number matched. She pulled on rubber surgery gloves, picked up a plastic evidence ziplock bag, pincers, and started collecting the bones from the table.As Jesse and Brennan were about to leave and stand by the door in the corridor, a motion from the bird woman's hand stopped them. She signaled they should stay and guard the  
door from inside. She looked at the two young men, let her eyes glow feral, two amber rings with black diamonds inside and surveilled the room. Through the doorway leading to the Anthropology head's inner office, her glowing eagle eyes closed in on the object she sought. As fast as she could, her boots making her walk unstable, the cane softly tapping the linoleum floor, she hurried to the back room."Freeze!" The main door to the Forensics Anthropology lab flew open and two armed security guards jumped in, only to be met by a karate chop to the back of the neck and a tesla coil to the chest. As the world turned black to the guards, Angela came back from the back office carrying a blackened and cracked skull. Her hands shook slightly as she carefully inserted the evidence in another ziplock bag. She closed the briefcase, now carrying all that was left of the woman she loved and they quickly made their escape from the house of the dead.


	10. LAB WORK

Lab Work

In the closed lab, a man and a mutant woman, both wearing lab coats and rubber surgery gloves, carefully lay down and label a collection of charred, cracked bones. Not a word is spoken, but their hands and eyes play like those of a fine tuned music duo. No movement is wasted, as the remains are organized in what resembles a human skeleton with many pieces missing. When all the bones are in their rightful places, the man and the woman step back and look at the result of their efforts. They both bite their upper lips in the exact same fashion, as if the gesture had been rehearsed. And they both have the same thought in their heads: there isn't much left, precious little of someone who was once so full of life and joy.

The woman hands the man a scalpel and a small saucer-like sterilized vial. The man scrapes what seems to be part of the left tibia, collecting the dust in the vial. Then, they head for the laser atomic microscope mounted on the left side of the lab. The vial is inserted in the central slot and, after a careful calibration, a beam of red light is directed to the sample. The plasma screen mounted on the wall lights up as the computer starts breaking up the bone dust into ever smaller units until reaching molecular level and displaying the DNA double helix correspondent to the sample at hand. The man types a command in the digital keyboard and the screen flashes up, rolling files at lightning speed, searching for a match in the new mutants database until it suddenly stops and displays a card with the picture of an attractive dark-skinned young woman with very expressive eyes.The mutant woman slowly sits down on the stool by the microscope, quietly sighs and touches her temple with the tip of her gloved fingers, closing her eyes in the same movement. The man touches the woman's shoulder and squeezes it firmly, trying to give her all the support he can."We use to say that hope dies last, you know." she says. "But I was hoping against hope.""I know." And he turns the screen off."Now what?" The mutant woman turns the bench around and faces the man."Now, we start running tests to determine if there was any external cause of death. And if there was any external cause for the fire.""Any reason to think there was?""No, neither Cat nor Shalimar could smell any accelerants," he answers."Hence, we have reason to think there was none." Her turn."No chemical one, at least.""You know, I've been thinking." she stands and paces around the lab. "Assuming this really wasn't a random occurrence, who was the target? Two people lived in that loft.""Three possibilities: you, Allison or both.""Care for a little speculation?" she asks."Lets play what if, shall we?" he accepts the offer."First, what if it I was the intended target?" starts the woman."There would be the unknown, but direct connection to me," offers the man."This would be an unlikely motive, since we've worked hard to keep it under wraps," she says. "Since you've brought me here from Brazil, I've dropped my middle name and all possible data connecting the two of us was erased. I tell you, not even Allison knew.""You didn't tell her? Not even her?" He is surprised."No," comes the simple answer."But she was...""It doesn't matter what she was," she interrupts. "You've asked me not to tell anybody, I gave you my word and I've kept it."He nods and, again, bites his upper lip in that so characteristic fashion.The woman proceeds with her train of thoughts. "The only way to find out would be an investigation into my life and origins in Brazil. And done in loco, searching public hard records, for even the Brazilian database was erased where I was concerned.""Therefore it's highly unlikely that you could be the target due to your connection to me," concludes the man."The fact that I was out of town was no secret," rationalizes the woman. "Any operative acting with premeditation could have checked that out and adjusted the timing to hit when I returned home.""Indicating that it either was a random hit or he wasn't targeting you both," concludes the man.  
  
"Do you think it could have been a random hit?" she asks."It is possible, but again, highly unlikely.""Then, we can speculate that Allison herself was the target," says the woan.The man merely nods."But why? Allison had no enemies, not that I know of." The mutant woman thinks hard. "Unless..." Her eyes locks on with the man's as their heads snap up and realization hits both at the same time.He immediately turns on the intercom. "Brennan? Jesse?" he calls."Yes?" they answer as one."Amp up the security measures on all Underground shelters and facilities. Regular checks on all safehouses must be doubled. I want all security personel on red alert until further notice, understood?""Yes, understood," the elemental acknowledges the command. "But why? Any specific reason?"  
  
"Allison wasn't the target; the Underground was."


	11. FIRST AID

First Aid

Cat walked around the kitchen. Putting things on to cook. Funny she loved to cook. It was the one thing she was good at.  Shet smiled at Brennan as he walked into the kitchen taking the lid off one of the pots. "Oh, man! I can't wait. It's been months since we last had some of your pasta." he said.

"Brennan, can I talk to you?" Cat asked."You know you can, sweetheart. What is it?" he said."First, come here." They kissed. "Sorry that it's taken me so long to do that."Brennan pulled her into his arms. "I don't know what's been bothering you, but it's nice to see that my cat is coming back." he said kissing her back.Cat turned down the flame under one of the pots. It would take her more than a few days to get back to herself, but helping to find out who had killed Allison would help take her mind off her own heartache.She walked over to the table and sat down. "Maybe you should go help Jesse check out the safehouses. We can talk latter." Cat said."Jesse can handle it for a few minutes. I have a felling you really need to talk now."Brennan was right. If she didn't tell him what was wrong with her now she might neverdo. "About a week after Rev left. I got a call telling me my mother had died. I know that I hadn't had anything to do with her since I was fourteen, but she was my mother. That's one reason I took off the way I did." Cat stopped letting Brennan take in what she told him.Brennan took Cats other hand in his. "I'm sorry, Cat. I would have gone with you if you had told me." he told her.Cat smiled at Brennan. "Oh, I could just see that. I wonder who would have killed who. Silver let me know in no uncertain terms I wasn't welcome." Cat said closing her eyes to keep the tears at bay."What did Silver do? I mean she already tried to kill you once." Brennan pointed out.Cat laughed as Rev ran past the kitchen, Jesse behind her. "Maybe you should go check on the safehouses. I promise we'll talk again latter. Besides, I have to finish the pasta." Cat laughed and went to stove.Brennan walked up behind her pulling her into his arms. Cat winced as his hand hit the wound that still wasn't healed. Brennan pulled up Cat's shirt. The anger was written all over his face. "Adam needs to look at that, Cat. It's not healing, is it?" he asked."No, but Adam has enough to worry about. As soon as this is over, I'll let him look at it. " Cat said given Brennan a kiss and pushing him out the door.Cat touched her side. It was bleeding again. Taking a kitchen towel in her hand, she finished the pasta, and took out the garlic bread. Maybe they could eat.Cat touched her comring. "Guys, lunch or is it super, is done." Cat set the pasta on the stove to stay warm and walked to her room. By this time, her shirt was covered in blood. Cat tried and changed the bandage, but it wasn't easy. The wound was on her side and even a feral would have a hard time getting to it. She changed her shirt and walked back to the lab. Adam smiled at her. Cat walked over to Angela. "Did you want anything to eat. I could go get it for you." Cat asked.Angela smiled at Cat. "No, I'm fine Cat, but thank you." the winged feral told her.Cat turned to leave as Angela grabbed her arm. "You have blood on your pants Cat. What happened?" she asked.Cat laughed trying to cover up ."Oh I cut myself with a knife." Cat said trying to keep Angela and Adam from finding out the truth."Adam, why is it that I don't believe her?" Angela asked Adam.Adam walked over closer to Cat. "Maybe because ferals aren't likely to cut themselves." Adam said lifting the tail of Cat's shirt. Making the white bandage easy to see.Angela removed the bandage. "This isn't healing." Something Cat all ready knew. "How long?"  
  
"Three weeks."

Cat had never seen Adam get mad. "You could have gotten an infection. My God, three weeks! Why didn't you say something when you first got home?" he asked Cat.

"Because someone else needs you more than I do. Finding out who killed Allison is more important than my wound." Cat said pulling down her shirt. "Just bandage it again and lets get back to the job that needs to be done." Cat waited for one of them to move to bandage her side. "Fine, I'll do it myself. Oh, and the only other person who knows about this is Brennan. Let's keep it that way. No need worrying anybody else."Cat walked back by the kitchen. Rev and Jesse were setting at the table eating. "Enjoy you two." she said and headed on to her room.

The ring in Cat's room sounded for the third time, but no answer was coming. Then, the visitor tried the intercom: "Cat, you either open the door or I'll have Jesse phase it so I can come in. Your choice."

The door slid open and the feline stood there, hands on her hips. "You haven't eaten anything the whole day, Angela. Would you go to the kitchen, please?""You know, I could eat something, yes. After I'm done with you, that is.""No need, I can take care of it myself.""And pigs fly, dear," smiled the bird woman. "I have to be extra careful up there so I won't bump into the darn creatures."Cat couldn't help herself but laugh. "Ouch!""It only hurts when you laugh? I don't think so. My guess is it hurts all the time." Angela closed the door behind her and helped the feline take her shirt off. The wound on Cat's side, just below the ribcage was nasty, but there was no signs of infection. "It needs stitching, but since you've endured it for three weeks now, there is no internal damage. I'll bandage it properly and, after dinner, you'll go straight to the lab, no detours. Either Adam or I will sew you up, OK?" she said, while disinfecting the gash and wrapping the feline in a tight bandage. "Very well, you are good for the next hour or so, and no longer,  understood?"Cat nodded and Angela stood up and turned around, heading to the door. "Angela?" called the feline."Yes, dear?""Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome. And if you need to talk to somebody you have no background history with, know that I'm available. Sometimes its easier to talk to strangers than to friends, you know?"


	12. REVELATIONS and RABBI, SHALOM

Revelations

Revolution watched Cat enter the kitchen together with Angela. "That bitch of a sister of yours hurt you again, didn't she? If I ever catch that Silver..." she whispered.

Angela looked directly into Cat's eyes and placed a hand on the feral's shoulder. "Listen to me, everybody has a past. Most of us aren't really proud of it. If you worked for Eckhart, Adam worked at Genomex FOR 20 YEARS! How about that? And Brennan was a full fledged crook. Come to think of it, he should be in jail!" said Angela.Cat laughed at the look on Brennan's face."Hey...Don't leave me out." said Revolution as she sat on Jesse's lap "If he's a crook then so am I!"Cat laughed at the almost offended look on her best friend's face."I was institutionalized," exclaimed Shalimar."I conned women into buying things they didn't need," offered Emma."I once phased through the stage during a play," Jesse said.Everyone looked at him. Revolution squeezed his hand, he had told her this story. About how he had been so glad that he had gotten a part in the play but had been so nervous he had phased through the stage during an important part of the play. A group of boys had beaten him up later for screwing up the play."I was lucky," he whispered."The point is," Adam began, "nobody came into the world for a walk in the park. We all carry baggage, we all have things we're not proud of. But we carry on. We try to correct what we did wrong, there's nothing else we can do. Now, deal with the past and go on to the future. We have a job to do. Riley? Emma? What did you find out?"Revolution stood up. "Em, you bring those papers in?" she asked."I'll get them," Emma replied."Its cool, I got 'em," said Revolution as a folder full of papers floated in.Cat laughed. "Sometimes I forget how handy you kinetics are," she laughed.Revolution smiled at her then joined Emma at her place at the head of the table."So? What did you find?" asked Adam.Revolution slid onto the counter and gestured Emma to begin."Well..."Emma exclaimed leaning against the counter "While Rev was working I stumbled across an article about the death of three Japanese business men. At first it looked pretty innocent, while as innocent as an arson case can look but then I read the fire chief description of the fire"Adam nodded and gestured her to continue."It was nearly identical to the fire at Allison's loft," she exclaimed."Only in this case it was three businessmen that died in the same fire?" asked Adam."There has never been a case of SHC with more than a single victim" Angela said."It wasn't one fire." Emma said "Three men, three offices, three fires, three nearly identical times of death.""Same building, three offices, three victims?" asked Adam.The two psionics nodded."And all this with little to no structural damage," said Revolution passing out the crime scene photos she 'borrowed' from the Tokyo police."Any other cases?" asked Angela."The leader of an Palestinian terrorist faction, The Pro Peace Pakistani ambassador. A doctor in England, a child prodigy in Florida and an Australian physicist." said Revolution."There are cases popping up all over the globe?" asked Adam.Revolution nodded "Enough to be worried, not enough to cause global panic.""Enough to suggest that they're done by the same person?"Revolution nodded."Anything else?" asked Angela."When I was running through the CIA's database. I saw the name AirCorp but it didn't quite click on who it was until Em mentioned it. The CIA was looking into AirCorp after receiving intelligence that suggested that they had been selling highly explosive materials to a group that calls themselves "The New Order."" said Revolution."Wait...What's the New Order?" asked Cat.""Well...I wasn't sure at first, but then I called Lux." Replied Emma "New Order is a highly connected New Mutant terrorist faction.""They attacked Lux's Ring and kidnapped her daughter, Alex. We have to be sure they're involved" Said Adam."As if Lux would have it any other way," said Jesse.Shalimar nodded."Does Lux know what happened?" she asked."Yes, I told her. She sends her love to the Family of New Mutants and The Ring will light a candle for Allison.  Her portrait will be placed in the Hall of Sorrows," replied Emma."Riley, if there were cases of SHC popping up all over the world and the New Order might be involved, I need to talk to a friend of mine. You, Emma, Jesse and Angela, meet me in the main computer room." said Adam "Brennan, you, Cat and Shalimar, check the security measures on the Underground. I don't want surprises"Revolution nodded."How is Lux?" asked Jesse as they walked."Worried," replied Emma "And if someone can make a woman like Lux worried...I'm more than a little nervous.""Lux doesn't scare easily. If the New Order has something to do with Allison's murder, we'll need all the help we can get." Said Adam "Lets go"

  
  
Rabbi, Shalom

Adam entered the computer room where Jesse, Emma, Revolution and Angela were waiting for him carrying a strange object in his hand. It looked like a large black cloth disc. "What is that?" asked Emma.

"A kippah," answered Angela, while Adam clipped the piece of cloth to the top of his head."A what?" asked Rev."The traditional Jewish head cover."Emma couldn't help herself. "Are you Jewish?""You know the answer to that question," Adam smiled."None of my damn business, I know." Emma smiled back."The man I'll talk to is Jewish, though, an ultra-orthodox Jew," he explained. "I can't even talk to him with my head uncovered, he'd be offended. His name is Menachem Meir ben Shlomo. His business is to know what happens in the world. Specially what others want to keep secret. Ladies, please, out of sight."Typing a command in the digital keyboard, the holographic image of an elderly gentleman, his head covered by a large black hat, with curls dropping from either temple and a long beard came into view. "Rabbi Meir, shalom," started Adam, and the two men engaged in a conversation in a fast paced and strange sounding language."What gibberish is that?" Jesse asked no-one in particular."Hebrew," mouthed Angela. "This man must be Mossad."The conversation took a long time and the only thing the four younger mutants could see was that Adam asked the questions and the old gentleman answered them. And that Adam's face darkened as the conversation proceeded. After a while, Adam respectfully thanked the old man and turned the hologram off. "Huston, we have a problem," he said, unclipping the kippah and rubbing his eyes.


	13. A HARD RAIN AGONNA FALL

A Hard Rain A-Gonna Fall

Jesse watched Cat leave to board the Helix with Brennan and Shal. He felt as if a storm was brewing in the horizon, the dark clouds gathering and distant thunder growling low. He  
looked at his team leader, more of a father to him than his own, sitting on the computer bench, his elbows on his knees, still rubbing his eyes. Adam seldom looked tired or dispirited. On these rare occasions, the problem they faced had been almost overwhelming, almost impossible to overcome, but, somehow, they always did. They always managed to come out on top, and, amazingly, never a team mate had been seriously injured. They had never lost a team mate before. The worst loss so far had been this one, Allison Turner. She had been one of the original Mutant X members, part of Adam's original draft, but had chosen to work for the Underground instead. And she had died, probably, because of her connection to the Underground. Jesse now wondered if they were running out of luck.

Lifting his head from his hands, Adam looked at each mutant around him. These were his most trusted, better trained, most reliable allies. Emma, the intense psionic, powerful beyond belief, yet compassionate, fair, and sensitive. Even without any powers, she would, most likely, be a terrific therapist. She had all the makings of a great psychoanalist. Jesse, his technical right hand., his computer expert, a rock with a heart of pure, unblemished gold. And his firebrand of a girlfriend, the turbulent Revolution. Never a nickname fit so well both looks and temperament. A telekinetic capable of lifting either a mountain from its base or a baby from his crib without a stir, yet a demon when commanding a computer keyboard. And he thought about those who were absent, working to make sure other genetically altered men, women and children could have a measure of safety: Brennan, his powerhouse; Shalimar, the fierce, the first called on to join his troops, the one remaining by his side, and Cat, his other feline, only now emerging from the darkest pits of depression to take her rightful place on his small, but remarkable army. And last but not least, Angela, the falcon half-breed, his bird-of-prey. Older, wiser, brilliant, competent, dependable. As good a doctor in her field as he was himself in his. And loyal. Loyal as only falcons can be. The moment she called him falconer, he knew she would go with him to the seventh circle of hell, if necessary. This time, maybe it would be."Riley, Emma, the assassinations around the globe have come to the attention of Menachem's organization," Adam informed his team. "He told me there is a mercenary terrorist at large. Nobody knows his name, what he looks like, where he comes from. The modus operandi and the outcome of the attacks indicate that only one person is responsible. The wide range of victims indicate a hit man who hires his services to the higher bidder and has no qualms about killing anyone, men, women or children. Menachem said the cases are always the same, the characteristics of an SHC case, but with fundamental differences." Adam stopped and looked around at his team mates, who listened in silence to his every word. "The Japanese businessmen: three victims, three offices, almost no structural damage, but Menachem told me every scrap of paper in their offices burned. The Pakistani and the Palestinian were obvious targets. The English doctor's office also burned completely. The Australian physicist's work on an alternative cheap and clean power source that would render all other known fuels obsolete was totally lost in a fire that left all furniture intact." Adam stopped again and drew a deep breath. "And there was the child prodigy in Florida. According to Menachem, the boy was the son of a Cuban drug dealer with contacts all over Latin-America and the Far East, namely the biggest importer of base cocaine and base heroine in the US." He lowered his head. "The boy was killed slowly, while his parents watched and could do nothing to save him. His mother was severely burned trying to put out the fire that consumed her son from the inside out."The mutants were silent, looking down at their feet. This was horror beyond their expectations. This time, they would face a cold and dangerous killer as they had never encountered before."Adam, I think it is obvious. Don't you?" offered Angela, lifting her head to look at her falconer.  
  
"Absolutely," he agreed. "It must be a mutant. Menachem told me the killer's code name. And his organization. This murderer is known as the Salamander.""And the organization that backs him up?" asked Jesse.Adam looked directly to Emma. "It's the New Order."

A Hard Rain A-Gonna Fall

Jesse watched Cat leave to board the Helix with Brennan and Shal. He felt as if a storm was brewing in the horizon, the dark clouds gathering and distant thunder growling low. He  
looked at his team leader, more of a father to him than his own, sitting on the computer bench, his elbows on his knees, still rubbing his eyes. Adam seldom looked tired or dispirited. On these rare occasions, the problem they faced had been almost overwhelming, almost impossible to overcome, but, somehow, they always did. They always managed to come out on top, and, amazingly, never a team mate had been seriously injured. They had never lost a team mate before. The worst loss so far had been this one, Allison Turner. She had been one of the original Mutant X members, part of Adam's original draft, but had chosen to work for the Underground instead. And she had died, probably, because of her connection to the Underground. Jesse now wondered if they were running out of luck.

Lifting his head from his hands, Adam looked at each mutant around him. These were his most trusted, better trained, most reliable allies. Emma, the intense psionic, powerful beyond belief, yet compassionate, fair, and sensitive. Even without any powers, she would, most likely, be a terrific therapist. She had all the makings of a great psychoanalist. Jesse, his technical right hand., his computer expert, a rock with a heart of pure, unblemished gold. And his firebrand of a girlfriend, the turbulent Revolution. Never a nickname fit so well both looks and temperament. A telekinetic capable of lifting either a mountain from its base or a baby from his crib without a stir, yet a demon when commanding a computer keyboard. And he thought about those who were absent, working to make sure other genetically altered men, women and children could have a measure of safety: Brennan, his powerhouse; Shalimar, the fierce, the first called on to join his troops, the one remaining by his side, and Cat, his other feline, only now emerging from the darkest pits of depression to take her rightful place on his small, but remarkable army. And last but not least, Angela, the falcon half-breed, his bird-of-prey. Older, wiser, brilliant, competent, dependable. As good a doctor in her field as he was himself in his. And loyal. Loyal as only falcons can be. The moment she called him falconer, he knew she would go with him to the seventh circle of hell, if necessary. This time, maybe it would be."Riley, Emma, the assassinations around the globe have come to the attention of Menachem's organization," Adam informed his team. "He told me there is a mercenary terrorist at large. Nobody knows his name, what he looks like, where he comes from. The modus operandi and the outcome of the attacks indicate that only one person is responsible. The wide range of victims indicate a hit man who hires his services to the higher bidder and has no qualms about killing anyone, men, women or children. Menachem said the cases are always the same, the characteristics of an SHC case, but with fundamental differences." Adam stopped and looked around at his team mates, who listened in silence to his every word. "The Japanese businessmen: three victims, three offices, almost no structural damage, but Menachem told me every scrap of paper in their offices burned. The Pakistani and the Palestinian were obvious targets. The English doctor's office also burned completely. The Australian physicist's work on an alternative cheap and clean power source that would render all other known fuels obsolete was totally lost in a fire that left all furniture intact." Adam stopped again and drew a deep breath. "And there was the child prodigy in Florida. According to Menachem, the boy was the son of a Cuban drug dealer with contacts all over Latin-America and the Far East, namely the biggest importer of base cocaine and base heroine in the US." He lowered his head. "The boy was killed slowly, while his parents watched and could do nothing to save him. His mother was severely burned trying to put out the fire that consumed her son from the inside out."The mutants were silent, looking down at their feet. This was horror beyond their expectations. This time, they would face a cold and dangerous killer as they had never encountered before."Adam, I think it is obvious. Don't you?" offered Angela, lifting her head to look at her falconer.  
  
"Absolutely," he agreed. "It must be a mutant. Menachem told me the killer's code name. And his organization. This murderer is known as the Salamander.""And the organization that backs him up?" asked Jesse.Adam looked directly to Emma. "It's the New Order."

Send In The Calvary

Emma sighed heavily and stretched her hands to the sky. Revolution paced around the lab floor, while Jesse and Angela attempted a half-hearted game of chess. Adam was off in his office knee deep in another conversation with one of his sources.

"This is the worst part," whispered Emma.Jesse looked at his girlfriend.  "Rev, honey, be a dear and sit down?" he asked "You're making us all more jumpy."Revolution smiled sheepishly. "I just wish there was something we could be doing." she whispered.Emma patted her hand. "We all do," she replied.Revolution smiled and turned to the computer."When all else fails..." said Jesse winking at Angela.Revolution turned towards him and stuck her tongue out. Pulling her hair out of her face, she accessed the security cameras."What are you doing?" asked Angela."Nothing really," replied Revolution "Just running some test, make sure our Fort Knox is...Fort Knoxish.""What's that?" asked Emma, as the older Psionic leaned across the desk."What's what?"Emma pointed to a car speeding through the underground tunnel."I don't know." whispered Revolution her body rigid with nerves "I'm thinking we better go down there for a little meet-and-greet."Emma nodded.  "Adam, we have visitors," she exclaimed over the intercom."I'm on my way," he said.

Lux Windsor looked around the dark tunnel and smiled at Jax McManus. "They all think we're attacking them," she whispered.The feral laughed as she lifted two duffel bags from the back of the car. "Jeez...these damn things are #%$ heavy," she exclaimed louder than she expected."Whoever they are," whispered Angela "They're certainly not quiet."Revolution laughed as a thickly accented voice let off a string of curses that would make the toughest biker blush. "JAX!" she yelled.Jax looked up and smiled. "Well, if it ain't me tiny Revolution," she said embracing the girl.Emma laughed and jogged towards Lux. The two Psionics stood face to face, both grinning brightly. "Hello, friend," said Emma."Hello, friend," exclaimed Lux.Adam walked over with Jesse and Angela in tow. He wasn't as surprised to see Lux as the others. The young leader had a knack of being where she was needed."_Being a precognitive mind reader doesn't hurt,"_ whispered a voice in his head.Adam laughed and embraced her.Angela hung back with Jesse. "Now who is she?" she asked."Lux Windsor.""And the other one?""Jax McManus, her bodyguard."Jesse looked at the two new arrivals. They really were the definition of an odd couple. Lux, who was dressed in black pants, a white tank top and a leather trench coat was a mystery. Meanwhile, Jax, who wore a pair of patchwork overalls and an emerald t-shirt, was exactly what she seemed. A brash, tough, Irish woman who could swear and drink with the best. Lux looked like the leader of an underground Mutant group, Jax on the other hand looked like a normal person._Untill ya piss her off._Jesse laughed and embraced Lux.Jax looked at Angela. "Who the hell are you?" she asked.


	14. COME INTO MY PARLOR

Come into my Parlor

Angela, smallish and bent, with her apparently twisted back, looked all the way up at the tall, strong woman. "Nobody really," she answered sweetly. And looking around as her friends greeted the visitors, she invited, "Would you care to come inside?" Then, she slipped out of her coat, and handed it to Jesse by her side. She seemed to grow as she stretched her bent legs and her curved back from the slouching, deceptive position of her crippled persona to assume the full height of her real feral self. She faced the lioness in front of her predator to predator, eye to eye, both glowing at the exact same time, Jax's slanted and yellow, Angela's round and amber. The bird woman spread her golden and maroon wings to their full length, screeched her clarion, turned around and flew through the dark tunnel as the magnificent falcon she was.

Jax McManus's jaw dropped to the floor and shot back up. And she repeated the question with her eyes open wide. "Who the hell is that?""That, Miss McManus, is my bird-of-prey," answered their host. "Be careful of her. Be very careful of her." And he motioned them to come in.

Trembling Earth

"Oh, her?" asked Revolution, arm in arm the fiery McManus woman, telekinetically pushing the bags they brought down the hallway, past Cat, coming from inside Sanctuary. "That's Lux." She smiled. "Lux, this is Cat, Cat this is Lux Windsor."

Cat smiled and shook Lux's hand. So this is Lux, she doesn't look so tough, thought Cat, did Rev say something about a bodyguard?"Jax is floating around somewhere," said Lux.Cat looked at Lux, more than slightly shocked. Lux tapped her temple."Telepath," was her simple reply."Ah," said Cat blushing slightly "There are far too many Psionics here."Revolution slapped her arm gently."Hey, I resent that comment," she said jokingly."I know."Cat wrapped an arm around Revolution and the two girls walked out of the lab."So that's Cat," said Lux as she sat on a counter."Yes," replied Adam."Sheesh, Revolution told me so much about her, I feel like I know her," said Lux "They make quite a pair."Adam nodded."It's the Salamander," she whispered "You already knew that though….Menachem."Adam looked at the young woman in shock."Don't worry," she said patting his arm "I never read and tell."Adam laughed slightly."Why did you come?" he asked "Not that we don't enjoy seeing you.""We're not exactly harbingers of good news, are we?" asked Lux rubbing her eyes tiredly.Adam looked at her, his eyes filled with concern."Yes," she whispered "I'm fine. We'll talk later, Doc. Donna Gryphon is about to call. The Salamander struck again. Don't worry though, she's fine."Lux walked out of the lab, just as the phone began to ring.&&&Brennan sat down on the couch next to Revolution and sighed heavily."She went, didn't she?" asked Revolution."Yes."  
  
"Told you so," exclaimed Revolution grinning "My girl Cat is stubborn."Brennan laughed then grew serious."I don't think Adam should have asked her to go pick up Donna, especially after that fight with Silver," he whispered.Revolution patted his arm and grinned again."No worries, Spark," she said "She's got Shal with her and I guess this Donna chick is a wicked Psionic. She'll be fine.""Yeah Static," said Jax "She's got Kitten, she'll be five by five."Brennan laughed at the pet names Jax had given him and Shalimar when they first met."Hey….shh…" whispered Lux from where she was sitting, she leaned across Jesse's lap and took the remote from him."Hey!" said Jesse.Revolution reached over and covered his mouth with her hand as she watched the newscast that had caught Lux's eye. A serious looking reporter stood in front of a ripped up street. "...reaching 6.5 on the Richter scale, the financial heart of the city was virtually destroyed..."  
  
"Holy #%$," whispered Jax "That's #%$ Detroit.""Was," whispered Lux "And I can only think of one person who has that kind of power.""Bree," said Jax, her eyes flashing."Bree?" asked Revolution "Who the hell is Bree?""Its Nicky's Queen of Hearts," said Jax "Bree Williams, one of the few women in The New Order. A Terraformer Elemental.""A Terraformer?" asked Jesse, his eyes wide with shock "They're one of the rarest forms of elementals."  
  
Lux nodded."Nicky sends her in when he wants to send a message," she exclaimed."And what is his message?" asked Emma who had remained quiet the whole time."My guess…" said Jax "He's challenging us."Revolution sighed heavily."Someone should call Adam and tell him," she said."I will," said Emma."I'll come with you," said Lux "I'll call Max and have him send up everything on our newest player."Emma nodded.Revolution watched the news for a few more minutes, growing more angry with each destroyed building. Jax could see it in the young Psionic's eyes, it was a look that she had come to know very well in the short time Revolution had been with The Ring."Come on kid," she said "Let's go do some of those exercises Lux taught ya."Revolution nodded gratefully. If she got much more angry, she wouldn't be able to think straight.Angela perched on one of the wooden planks that crisscrossed one of the training rooms, a tiny book sat precariously atop her knees. She watched curiously as Revolution rushed into the room, leaned against the wall and put her head in her hands. She was just about to see if the girl was all right when Jax came in carrying something. Angela's hawk eyes focused on the small object, when she saw what it was, anger filled her. A gun? How dare that woman do this? Mutant X had brought her willingly into their Sanctuary and now she was threatening the life of Revolution.


	15. TOUCHING THE FLAMES

Touching the Flames

Cascade, Washington 7:00 pm

Blair and Donna were driving down the road after a wonderful dinner together. They had been engaged for a month now and were in high spirits. Though Donna did have a tinny twinge in the back of her heart that something was wrong. She could feel a small ghost of grief but she couldn't pinpoint it. She was still having a time reining in her increasing telekinetic ability and trying to have some fun at the same time. She knew that she was doing a good job at both because she was having fun and nothing "weird" happened during the whole dinner. Now they were off to see the Lord Of The Dance. Donna had already seen it a few years ago and wanted to see it again and Blair amazingly enough had not seen it yet. It was going to be fun to see his reaction to this one.Three hours later after the show:"Wow! THAT WAS ONE GREAT SHOW!!!" the anthropologist said to his soon to be wife.  
  
Donna hugged against her soon to be husband and smiled. "I knew that you would like it! Couldn't you feel the energy when the music was playing and they were on stage doing their numbers? You don't have to be a psionic to feel that do you?""Oh no, you couldn't help but feel it. Man! That was SO cool!"Suddenly the female anthropologist and linguist stopped in her tracks. She could feel another mind reaching out for her in fear. Donna takes off into a run towards Blair's car and gets into the drivers seat. Blair gets into the car after her. "What? What?""I just heard Carla in my mind." Carla Johnson was a fellow psionic new mutant who lived in Cascade and Donna and her had become friends after the whole Foundation incident. "She's in trouble Blair!" Donna reaches down with her hand and starts the car with her telekinesis forgoing putting her seat belt on as Blair is struggling with his.Donna speeds around the corner and then picks up more speed as she barrels down the street. She is in telempathic contact with Carla and is able to sus out her location with her mind.   
  
Down one block and then the other, going over bumps and baby pot holes Donna's mind is so focused on getting to Carla that she ignores the bouncing that she is causing and the fact that Blair's head is hitting the roof of the car. "DONNA! You are worse that Jim!""Sorry about that one honey but I can't help it." Blair's complaint reached her ears. She then reached out her telekinesis to brace Blair in his seat. "There you go, sweetie.""Thanks, Donna.""Any time."All of the sudden the young psionic new mutant stomped her foot on the breaks and because she was holding her fiancé with her mind he didn't shoot through the windshield. "There. She is in there." Donna gets out of the car and Blair is behind her. "No! You stay here. I don't want whatever is going on to hurt you.""No way man, I am not letting you go in there alone Donna!" Donna felt that his mind was set.   
  
"Sorry honey but you have no choice in the matter." She throws a psi blast and he is frozen in place. She kisses him on the cheek and says, "You will snap out of it when you see me coming out of the building with Carla.Donna races off to the building that she feels Carla in. It is a factory that builds airplane parts as Carla had told Donna once. Donna inters the building and smells a weird smoky scent. "Carla! Sweetie where are you?!" She then hears her psionic friends cries."Donna help us!""Where are you?""My boss and I are trapped in his office. There are strange flames surrounding us. HELP!" Carla paths."Help's on the way."Donna races to where Carla and her boss are and with all of her telekinesis to smother the blue flames and after exhausting all the power she had in her was able to snuff out the fire. She collapses to the floor for a minute and then after some help from Carla and the Japanese man who was her boss help her to her feet."I have never seen anything like that before." Said the man."Donna! Thank God you came. I thought we were toast, literally."Coughing Donna says, "That's what I'm here for." And then she waves her Com-Linked finger at Carla.Carla laughs and says, "Naw, you're just the heroic type girl.""Let's get out of here and call the police." Donna says."That sounds like a good idea young lady." Carla's boss says. "Sorry about my manners," and he holds out his hand and Donna takes it, "I am Carla's boss, Cary Tanaka. You are in my debt my dear.""My pleasure sir." Donna says in Japanese and Mr. Tanaka looks amazed."You speak Japanese. I am impressed." he says in his native tongue.Carla says smiling, "Donna is a linguist at Rainier University. She speaks many tongues Mr. Tanaka.""Well now I know were to come to if I need a translator." They laugh and leave the building.   
  
Blair sees Donna and Carla with the Japanese man and snaps out of the trance that Donna placed him in. He comes up to Donna and says in her ear, "You're bad you know that?""Oh yeah, I'm really bad." She kisses him on the cheek. "Blair Sandburg, Mr. Cary Tanaka. Mr. Tanaka, this is my fiancé."They both bow at each other, "Congratulations Mr. Sandburg. You will be marrying a hero."  
  
"I already know that Mr. Tanaka." Blair says smiling and then he looks at Donna, "Don't ever do that again!""What was I supposed to do?" and they walk to Blair's car. Donna calls the police and they are on there way. She then goes to the side and contacts Sanctuary.Sanctuary:  
  
"Yeah?" Adam answers."Hey Addy," Donna uses the nickname that her soon to be father-in-law MacGyver has for her Mutant X leader.""Donna?"  
  
"Yeah it's me. I just had the feeling that you should know this. I was out with Blair tonight and I got a hit from Carla so I went to see what was up. She and her boss a Mr. Cary Tanaka were in a fire at the airplane parts factory that she works at as his secretary and I managed to get them out. Man this one was a hottie. I mean the flames were blue and it took every ounce of telekinesis that I had to suffocate it. I never had such a time putting a fire out before. These flames were super hot!""Sounds like something that were are on right now. Donna, listen to me. I want you to get Carla and her boss to a safe house and keep them under guard. Don't let anyone but one of us in. Understood?""Yes sir! We're on our way.""And Donna?""Yeah Adam?""Don't call me "Addy"."Donna giggles and turns off her ring. "Let's go. I know a place were we can go and be safe. Don't worry Mr. Tanaka, everything will be alright." Donna, Blair, Carla, and Mr. Tanaka get into Blair's car Donna at the wheel again and she takes them to the safe house."What is this place?" Mr. Tanaka says."You wouldn't believe us if we told you." Carla says.


	16. THE EXERCISE

The Exercise

Looking quietly down from her perch, Angela considered the possibilities. 'This is a fight exercise, they'll spar a bit, and Rev will try and wrestle the gun from the bodyguard' she thought. 'Might as well watch.' Or...

The lioness feral posted herself across the room from Revolution. Jax McManus lifted her arm, pointed directly to Riley, cocked the gun... and with a screech, a falcon dove from the ceiling, talons at the ready.

Revolution looked up when she heard the shreak. She may have been a city kid, but she wasn't stupid.

"Stop!" she yelled raising a hand.Angela was shocked to find her downward flight stopped quite so suddenly."Jesus, Hawkgirl," said Jax "You're #%$ lucky I didn't shoot. I could have killed her.""I thought...." stammered Angela."That I was gonna shoot her," replied Jax "No sweat Hawkgirl, aint the first time I've been nearly filleted. Thanks for the save Rev.""No problem" said Revolution as she turned Angela right side up and set her on her feet "Wasn't exactly in the mood for a blood bath."

"Thank you very much for putting me upside up," fumed the bird woman. "So, that was supposed to be an exercise?"

"Yes," answered Rev. "I would stop the bullet before it hit me.""Very impressive. And very dangerous! Put the two of you together, plus Cat, and Adam and I won't be enough!" Angela had got a scare, and she wasn't pleased."Listen, Hawkgirl, that's what me tiny Revolution went all the way down to bonny California to learn." Jax McManus squarely faced the falcon woman. "And learn she did. Now, if ya'll excuse us, we have work to do here."Angela looked at Rev, who shrugged, then she glared at the lioness feral. "Birds don't trust cats, you know? Harm Riley and I'll have your eyes for earrings."The feline feral just grinned wickedly.Angela shook her head and headed to the door. "I heard Adam send Cat and Shal to pick up Donna Gryphon," she turned to Revolution. "I think it's wiser if I go get a room ready for her," she turned back to Jax McManus, "or I might break the laws of hospitality."Angela turned away and left the training room. As soon as she closed the door behind her, he heard the explosion of the firearm and shuddered. Leaning her head against the metal door, she let out a deep sigh. 'Oh, Donna, make haste. I need someone sane around here."


	17. THE NEW RING OF FRIENDS

The New Ring Of Friends

Cascade Safe House, Cascade, Washington:

While Donna, Blair, Carla, and Mr. Tanaka were at the safe house waiting for someone from Mutant X to arrive Donna received a call via Com-Link from Adam. "Donna, I am sending Cat and Shalimar to the Cascade Safe House to pick you and Blair up. I want you to tell Carla that she is to stay with Mr. Tanaka at the safe house and keep and eye on him.""Sure thing, Adam." Donna goes to walk over to were the others are.Blair is talking with the two others as Donna walks up and tells them what Adam said, "Sounds good to me. Jim called me back," Blair had called his Sentinel as they were in route to the safe house to let him know what happened and Jim said that he would call Josh Evans, Donna's partner and they would check it out. Josh also knew of Jim's abilities and would act as de-facto guide whenever Blair couldn't be there at a crime scene. "he told me that they were at the factory and are now starting to go over it. He will let us know what they find. In the mean time he also said that Mr. Tanaka and Carla should stay were they are. I told Jim it wasn't a problem.""Great. We should be going. The Helix will pick us up on the rooftop of my warehouse. we should go by your place so you can pick up a couple of changes of clothes and essentials and then go by my place and I can get my emergency bag from my car. After all that has been happening lately I thought that it would be the best to keep one handy for occasions such as this.""Man, maybe I should make my own emergency bag too." Blair said to Donna as he got up from the sofa where he and the others were sitting and they say there good-byes and head up the stairs and out the series of doors and secret passageways to the street and they are on there way.They went to Blair's loft and then to Donna's place and as they were in the freight elevator they heard the Double Helix land on the roof. Reaching the top they were greeted by Cat and Shalimar. Donna then Blair hugged there greetings and hopped into the craft."It's great to see you guys again," Donna said."Yeah," Shalimar said. "Though I only wish that we could visit with each other without a crisis."  
  
"I hear you there my sister. How's the gang?" Cat explained what had happened and Blair and Donna were in shock. With tears in her eyes Donna said, "Mercy, Allison was one of the best. Man, this must be tearing Angela apart. No wonder I could feel a little twinge of grief. I was picking up on her feelings. Step on it! I wanna get there as fast as we can.""Your wish is my command." and Shalimar gave her the gas.Sanctuary, as Shalimar, Cat, Blair and Donna arrive:They walk into the common room were all the computer terminals and the living area are located and Donna stops as she sees three people she has never met before. She automatically knows that two of them are Psionics but the other one she couldn't tell.Adam walks up to Donna and gives here a huge hug and a proud smile. "Great work getting Mr. Tanaka and Carla out of the building." Adam says and then he shakes Blair's hand, "Good to see you again, Blair.""Likewise. MAN! The more I see this place the more amazed I am. I still can't believe it is inside of a mountain." Adam smiles at the anthropologist."Adam, I almost couldn't put the fire out. It took everything I had and then some. I think I pushed the limits of my powers. I have never done that before. I still have a killer headache." Donna says looking at Adam with worry on her face and then she looks at the three strangers behind the leader of Mutant X."Where are my manners?" Adam says as he escorts Donna and Blair to the women. "Donna Gryphon, Blair Sandburg. I would like you to meet Revolution, she is a telekinetic like yourself, Donna. And this is Lux Windsor, a precognitive mind reader and her bodyguard, Jax McManus and she is a feral. They are members of a New Mutant group called The Ring. They are a group similar to Mutant X."Donna shakes there hands, "Pleased to meet you." Then turns to Adam with worry on her face, "I am so sorry about Allison, I didn't know her too well but I did call her a friend. I only wished that I could have called her an old friend. She was a good person. Where's Angela? How's she doing?""Thank you for the condolences. Angela is in her room. As soon as we get you and Blair settled you can go check on her. I know that she would like to see you. Then we can put our heads together and get to work.""Yeah, I love her like a sister." She turns to Revolution, Lux, and Jax and says with a little sad smile still worried about her falcon friend, "I wish we could have met under different circumstances. Any friends of Adam and Mutant X are friends of mine."Revolution nods and Lux Windsor holds out her hand and Donna takes it again, "Likewise. Adam says that you are a formidable Psionic.""Yeah, well I hope he is right. Because it is gonna take all that I've got and then some to help put out this Salamander's flames." Donna says worry still on her eyes."Well, Adam is seldom wrong." Lux adds.Emma and the other members of Mutant X walk up and say their hellos and Emma says, "Let me show you to your room, Donna."Jesse says to Blair, "Come with me, I'll show you were you will be sleeping.""Well, I thought that Donna and I were gonna share a room." Blair said looking at Donna and then at the molecular.

"No," Adam piped in, "you two need your sleep and besides while you are here there will be no playing around before you are married."

Donna whose spirits were a little lifted after that comment from Adam said with a little smile, "Why Addy," Adam gives her a warning look, "I mean Adam, I didn't know you were THAT old fashioned.""No, I just want you two rested. You need to be at your wits." Adam said with a smile and a pat at both of their shoulders. "Go get settled."   
Coming down the hallway, Brennan ran into Donna knocking at Angela's bedroom door. They looked at each other and hugged, with Donna disappearing into the elemental's arms. "Athena, goddess of wisdom, good to see you!" he exclaimed. "Is Blair around?""He's checking his room with Jesse, O Zeus, god of lighting!" laughed Donna Gryphon."How's Jim Ellison?" Asked Brennan. He and the tall Cascade detective had become friends during the Foundation incident."He's fine. Said he misses you, the dojo, and he misses you and the dojo together," quipped the multi-psionic. "He'll be ready whenever you are.""And I'll kick his butt from here to Los Angeles," laughed Brennan. "Looking for Tweetty? You can't find her here. Try the pond. The skylight there is her favorite perch.""Thanks, Zeus."&&&  
  
The skylight was wide open, revealing the blue, cloudless sky above Stormking mountain. Donna stopped by the waterfall, taking in the peace and tranquility the spacious room instilled, the Japanese feel inspiring meditation. Donna looked up as the flapping of wings above denounced the approach of a large bird that descended through the opening in the ceiling and lightly landed in front of her.On the ground, without the twisted disguise she presented to the world, Angela Fontenelle was of medium height, and lightly built. Her skin was the color of a clear coffee-latte and her eyes were honey colored. Her hair was short and curly, her hands had long fingers and large knuckles, ending in talons, but her feet were her strangest feature, resembling those of birds, with three toes pointing ahead and a toe thumb pointing backwards, ending in black talons. She wasn't beautiful by any means, but she could be striking in her winged self.The bird woman smiled warmly. "GryphonLady, greetings," she saluted her friend and ally in the traditional way she had used when they first met over the Internet, before fate and adventure brought them together, and took Donna's hands in her own.Donna Gryphon smiled back, pulled the Avian feral close and held her tight in her arms. She had learned to admire and trust, even love the half-breed over the course of two missions already, when, on both occasions, Donna had entered Angela's mind first to save her sanity from the savagery of a power-mad organization, and, on the second instance, reaching even deeper into her subconscious, she helped the Avian boost her immune system to resist the attack of a renegade mutant who'd inoculated her with a murderous tropical disease. On both occasions, Donna visited Angela's memories and emotions, and discovered not only the feral's brilliant intelligence, but her sense of ethics and undivided loyalties to her friends in general and the man she called her falconer in particular. Donna was the only person on earth knowing the secret of Angela's true origins and she kept it to herself in such a fashion that not even Angela knew that she knew. The bond now shared by the two friends and, to a lesser extent, by Emma DeLauro, was now unbreakable in their hearts and minds.Angela and Donna half broke the embrace and locked eyes. There was no need for words. The multi-psionic experienced the full measure of loss and sorrow carried by the feral. They looked at each other for a long time, as Donna showered her friend's mind and heart with peace, and helped her find the closure she craved. They kissed on the cheek and Donna's mind felt the gratitude emanating from her friend, now ready to put the past behind and face whatever the future had in store."If you're all done settling in," Adam's voice sounded over the intercom, "we will assemble in the kitchen where everybody can help put lunch together, get better acquainted and be debriefed."  
  
"Lets go meet the others," said the falcon woman. "I want to see Blair."As Angela turned to leave taking her friend by the hand, Donna felt her hair stand on end as a shudder shot up from the entwined hands directly to clench her heart, as if the angel of death had just flown over the open skylight overlooking the pond. Silently, she raised a prayer to the Goddess, the feminine principle reigning over the universe. 'Spare me, O Goddess of my heritage,' she pleaded. 'Thrust upon me all the responsibility and the power of your desire. Make me capable of moving and controlling all living and non-living things upon this earth. Make me capable of penetrating and traveling the roads of the fantastic circuitry enveloping the planet. Make me capable of knowing and feeling the beautiful and the hideous hidden in the souls of all mankind. But spare me this, O Goddess. Spare me the curse of the future. I beg you, O Goddess, on my knees, my head bowed to your wisdom and your wishes, spare me the curse of precog."


	18. VISIONS AND BURNS

Visions and Burns

Lux looked around the small room where they all sat. Jax looked at her and grinned.  
  
_Kind of Rag-tag, aren't they?_

Lux giggled behind her hand._We aren't exactly a well disciplined machine either._Lux took a quick inventory of their people. Revolution laid on a couch with her head in Jesse's lap, popping her gum and humming a rock song while Jesse read a book. Brennan and Cat were talking quietly as were Angela, Shalimar and the latest arrival Donna Gryphon. Emma and Adam were pouring over some of the intel that Lux had given them with Donna's fiancé Blair."Adam?" she asked "Are you ready?"Mutant X's leader nodded. Lux walked over to the large screen that Brennan and Jesse had set up."Max?" she asked as she turned it on."Gimme a second, Boss," said a heavy Boston accented voice.The screen crackled and a handsome dark haired boy emerged."Maximilian!" yelled Revolution."Hey! Revolution!" yelled Max Monroe grinning broadly "So your an Mx'er now?"She lifted her hand and pointed to the band of silver."Full Fledged.""Excellent," he replied."Max!" yelled Jax "focus!""Sorry," he replied a sheepish grin settling over his boyish face."Please Max," said Lux "The footage from Detroit?"He pushed his thick glasses up over his head and his eyes went black. The screen crackled once again and Max's face was replaced by the carnage that was once Detroit's financial district.  
  
"Who could have done this?" asked Angela."Bree Williams," replied Lux."She's Nicky's girl," said Jax."Who's Nicky?" asked Blair."Max? pull up picture of Nickolas Lareou," said Jax.Emma's disgust was easily viewed when the picture of Nickolas came up. Lux linked her hand with Emma's and squeezed it."Nickolas Lareou, 34. Has a rap sheet longer than Static's and Mine put together," said Jax "A Sonic Elemental, he began putting The New Order together soon after his release from prison."  
  
Jax saw it first, the way Lux's hands started to shake."Boss?" asked Jax."A vision," she whispered and closed her eyes, a pale hand clutched her chest and her breathing slowed to an almost deadly quiet."Isn't someone going to help her?" asked Donna.Blair and Angela both started to rise to their feet, Jax stood in the way, her eyes flashing."Sorry Hawkgirl," she whispered "But I can't let ya interfere."The heat was intense as screams ripped into Lux's skull like a knife. Then she saw it, a church, large and gothic looking."St. Micheals on 21'st street," she whispered "Send them out.""Max!" yelled Jax "Patch me to Oliver."Nickolas's picture faded and a large man took his place."Oliver, Saint Mike's." she said "Go now!"The man nodded and the screen went black. Jax and Emma helped Lux back up and Cat gasped at the burns that went up and down Lux's arms."What the hell?" she asked.Lux smiled and her eyes faded white. She placed her right hand on her arm and the burns faded away."Who the hell are you people?" asked Blair.


	19. OH BRAVE NEW MUTANT WORLD

Oh Brave New Mutant World

"Welcome to the wonderful world of new mutants, Blair Sandburg," sighed Lux, as she fell back on the couch, her breath labored, exhaustion darkening her features. "You have barely scratched it's surface."

Adam had remained in his place all the time. He knew Lux enough to be aware that, once in the grips of a vision, she shouldn't be interfered with, and couldn't be helped in anyway. If the vision was too intense, it might harm her severely, even kill her. Only her own instinct of survival protected Lux against some of her trances. "Blair, Lux is gifted with one of the rarest forms of psionic mutation, and one of the cruelest: precognition. In short, she can see the future. Besides that, in one of Breedlove's experiments, she was given the extra Molecular power to heal injuries at a cellular level, thus reconstituting damaged tissue."The anthropologist's head was swimming in information of a sort he had a hard time digesting. He was used to many forms of the occult, a shaman in his own right, but this new mutants issue was hard Science tampering with life as we knew it. He would have to have a serious conversation with Dr. Adam Kane after this crisis was over."What did you see exactly, Lux?" asked Emma."Saint Michael's church on 21st, enveloped in blue fire," answered the precognitive. "The Salamander is traveling fast."A ring sounded, announcing an incoming call over Sanctuary's special phone system. "Yes," Adam answered. "Who's speaking?"A baritone voice sounded over the intercom. "Dr. Kane?"Sanctuary's computer voice ID system immediately kicked in and the picture of a man in a crew cut lit up on the screen. "Detective Ellison!" greeted Adam, as Blair and Donna exclaimed as one, "Jim!""Dr. Kane, something came up I must inform Blair and Donna as Cascade PD, but I think you should know about it, too.""Go ahead, detective. They're here and you're on speakers," Adam urged Jim on."There was a prison break," informed Cascade's sentinel. "Callhorne Penn was invaded, or so we think. It is pretty unbelievable."The collective breath of both mutants and non-mutants in the room was suspended. "Jim, what happened exactly?" asked Blair Sandburg."The maximum security ward was turned into a rainforest!" exclaimed Jim Ellison."Ntobo..." whispered Jax."There are trees growing inside cells, vines and twine wrapped around everything and anything!" the detective sounded amazed, incapable of believing his own words. "It all sprung up in less than five minutes! Bang, we're in the middle of the bushes! All inside a concrete and steel building!""Please, go on, Jim," Adam used Ellison's first name as he nudged the detective to proceed with his report."We have two prison guards dead, hung with vines around their necks from tree limbs," continuted Ellison. "Two guards got tear gassed, but the gas didin't spread.""Panarides..." whispered Lux."Not to mention the many others found passed out from sleeping gas all around the ward," finished the detective."Lareou must feel very confident," saud Jax. "The New Order is spreading itself very thin.""Yes," replied Lux. "Allison here, the Japanese guy in Cascade, St. Michaels back home, and now this prison break back in Cascade...""How many inmates escaped, Jim?" asked Blair."Only one," was the answer.Blair and Donna looked at each other, then locked eyes with Angela and Adam. "Who escaped, Jim?" Donna Gryphon asked. But they knew the answer already."It was Alex Tremayne."

A Hurricane Of Bad News

Sanctuary:  
  
"Man, Jim! Don't joke with us like that." Blair said to his partner.

"I wish that it was a joke, Chief." came the Sentinel over the speakers.Donna sighed and covered her face with her hands and said, "Oh brother." She then gave a groan. Revolution and The Ring knew what had happened with Alex Tremayne and the MX'ers and they could see the dread on Donna's face."Adam, Mac, Sam, and Sam's Sentinel Cory Buchanan are here and we are all ready to go. Cory want's to help out too.""I will sent Brennan and Jesse out to pick you up at your loft." There was a long silence, "Detective?" Adam said with worry in his eyes."Sorry Adam," Jim came back, "You won't believe this, we just got hit with one killer hurricane. Cascade just doesn't get hurricanes. The Weather Channel is going crazy. They are saying that it is unprecedented. The guys better get here fast. It's getting worse." The guys were out the door before the transmission could end."They are on their way, detective, hang in there.""Will do, Adam."Over the link Adam heard his old friend MacGyver say, "We gotta stop meeting like this, Addy." Donna gave a little smile, Adam rolled his eyes."Well, with your track record Angus, trouble always follows you. And it looks like it is in the genes." He looks at Blair."Hey," Blair says, "I resent that remark." Adam grins."See ya soon, Adam.""Soon." The transmission was over. Adam turns on The Weather Channel and they show scenes of Cascade and everyone on the channel are in shock."ADAM, Freeze that!" Donna knew what the Sanctuary computers were capable of when she gave the command."What?" Adam said startled at the once quiet psionic."May I?" Donna took over the keyboard and typed away. She went back to where she had seen what had caught her attention. She then enlarged and enhanced the image that she wanted. Donna knew her way around computers. "There! I know that guy. His name is Windel Mann. I met him at the safehouse in Cascade. He was very rude and and I remember once that he said that he was gonna change the world and create a new order. Oh, my goodness! He was serious!"Adam takes the keyboard back from Donna and types a few commands as a page from his New Mutant Database pops up. "Windel Mann aka "WindMan" is an elemental with the power to create enormous winds and rain. Looks like The New Order have grown by two. Alex and now the WindMan.""Looks like Salamander is recruiting new members for The New Order." Lux added."Oh this just gets better and better." Donna says with anger in her voice."Don't let your anger get in the way, Donna." Adam cautions."Oh, don't worry. I am gonna use it to stop Tremayne, Windel, and the others. Alex tried to kill Angela and Blair. I won't let him try again.""Don't worry Athena," It was Brennan over the Com-Link using his nickname for her, "with all of us they don't stand a chance.""Darn straight, Zeus." She uses his nick."Don't worry GryphonLady," the HawkGirl goes up and places her hand on Donna's shoulder. She then looks at Revolution and the two Ring members and says, "One thing you should know about our GryphonLady, when she wants something badly enough, she usually gets it.""Well, we are gonna make user that she does." Lux tells the young psionic. Donna nods her appreciation to Angela and Lux."Let's get to work." Adam says.


	20. MAINFRAME

Mainframe

Lux walked into the training room where Jax sat wrapping her hands with tape.

"You worried?" asked Lux.Jax shook her head and flipped her long red hair that was tied into a braid over her shoulder.  
  
"Nah." Jax replied."Liar," laughed Lux.Jax smiled."All right, Boss Lady," she said as she began pounding on the punching bag "I'm a wee bit worried about being here when Haven is in just as much trouble as Sanctuary.""Me too," said Lux patting her shoulder "Well, I'll let ya return to your assault on that innocent punching bag.""Dis punching bag? See it looks innocent but earlier it was getting fresh with me." said Jax as she slammed her foot into the bag.Lux laughed and walked out of the training room. She smiled at Emma as she walked into the computer room."Thanks for the Tip Em," she said "Jax was just worried about home.""Ms. Windsor?" asked Blair "If you don't mind me asking...Where is home?""Please, Its just Lux," replied Lux smiling "Me and Jax hail from Southern California and I'm afraid that's all I'll be able to tell you. I run a group of Mutants called The Ring and that is where our base of operations is located.""Haven" said Emma grinning."Well,we heard Sanctuary was taken," said Jax as she walked in."So Ms. McManus is your...bodyguard?" asked Donna."Its standard procedure really," replied Lux "All of the Hybrids travel with a feral body guard."  
  
"'Cept Connor," said Jax."Connor is a telempath/Ursine feral hybrid," explained Adam.Revolution smiled and turned back to the computer."How's the flight?" she asked."Good," said Jesse "The inflight meal is not so good but our stewardess just told me that the inflight movie is much better."Revolution laughed as a bizarre picture of Brennan in a stewardess outfit flashed through her mind. A large crackle ripped through the system as sparked flew out."Holy #%$!" she yelled "Jesse!"Inside the Helix, all the light shut off and the controls were ripped violently from Jesse's hands. Inside Sanctuary all the surveillance screens crackled then Nickolas Lareou appeared on the screen."Well Hello," he said "Aren't you a pretty young thing?""Don't say anything, Rev," said Jax "Nicky, I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you. But I don't like to lie.""Hello, Jacqueline, your looking lovely." he said smiling "Aidaan sends his love.""#%$ Aidaan and #%$ you too." whispered Jax her eyes flashing."What do you want Nickolas?" asked Lux as she came to stand behind Revolution."I just wanted to show you something my dear," he exclaimed "Meet Yukio. Lovely woman, isn't she?""I know you've come here to do more then show off your new whore," said Jax."Oh, I did."The screen went blank and a new picture flashed onto the screen. It was of the Double Helix, being nearly ripped apart by a storm."Jesse!" yelled Revolution."Oh my god," whispered Cat "Brennan."Emma placed a comforting hand on Cat's shoulder."Double Helix? Come in Double Helix," yelled Revolution as she frantically tried to make contact.  
  
"Riley!" yelled Jesse "The Helix is going crazy, I'm trying to keep it steady but its like it has a mind of its own."Revolution rolled her shoulders back and sighed."I'm gonna try something," she whispered "Hold on Jess. We're gonna get through this."Angela looked at Donna who nodded. she walked to Revolution's side and put a hand on the frantic girl's shoulder."Let me," she whispered.Revolution looked around then stood up shakily. Donna placed her hands on either side of the monitor and closed her eyes. The others watched in shock as millions of numbers and symbols began appearing on her skin, the skin that had began to glow the way a monitor would.  
  
"Hey...No one told me she was telecyber," whispered Revolution.Inside Sanctuary's mainframe Donna used her telepathy to find the other telecyber who had invaded it. A lovely Asian woman stood in the middle of it, her delicate fingers doing a deadly tap dance across the Helix's controls."Hello Donna Gryphon. Multi Psionic, volunteer of The Phoenix Foundation. Honorary member of Mutant X and member of the Cascade Pd." said the woman."Well, now that we've gotten to know each other," said Donna "Were'nt you just leaving?"Jesse suddenly felt whatever was holding the controls away from him release. He grabbed them and Brennan slapped his shoulders."Nice work," he exclaimed.Jesse looked at him and shrugged. "Wasn't me."Yukio smiled dangerously up at Donna and jumped quickly to her feet. She kicked Donna hard and flung her against a wall of the mainframe. Donna could feel the Mainframe's power source burn into her back and her eyes closed just as the control's ripped out of Jesse's hands."Damnit!" he whispered.Revolution swore as the lights flickered. Blair raced to Donna's side and touched her shoulder.  
  
"Blair!" Yelled Emma "Don't touch her!"It was too late though. The power that raced through the Psionic slammed into Blair causing him to be thrown directly into Angela.Donna opened her eyes slowly. She could see that Yukio had started to escalate her attack on the Helix."Don't you people ever die?" asked Yukio as Donna's telekinesis slammed her back."Nope," replied Donna as she held Yukio up "Get out of here!"She gathered her energy and threw Yukio into the dark recesses of the mainframe. Donna let go of the screen and fell backwards into Adam's arms."Jesse?" asked Revolution "What's going on?""We're back online. We've got some damage but we've got enough power to land and pick up the others. Me and you are gonna have quite the time fixing the old bird though." said Jesse.  
  
Revolution smiled "It's a date."Donna looked over at Blair and gasped."Blair?" she yelled "What the hell happened to him?""He touched you," said Angela rubbing her sore head."Is he all right?" asked Donna.Lux smiled at her."He will be." she replied "Jax, you and Adam carry Mr. Sandburg to the med lab. Revolution and Cat,help Angela and Donna to the Lab as well.""I'm fine..." said Angela.

"No, you're not." said Jax "That's quite the headwound, Hawkgirl."

Revolution smiled and wrapped an arm around Angela's waist."Come on, lean on me," she said.Adam and Jax placed Blair gently on the table and Donna hobbled to his side."What are you going to do to him?" she asked Lux."I'm going to reverse the effects of his electrocution," said Lux.Her dark eyes faded to white and her hands glowed slightly as she placed them on Blair's forehead. She smiled with satisfaction when he opened his eyes."Morning Sunshine," she exclaimed grinning impishly "Whose next?""Mainframe then Hawkgirl," said Jax."Uh oh, Donna," said Revolution "You can't escape now. You've received a Jax nickname."Donna laughed and kissed Blair's forehead.Angela slid off of the lab table and rubbed the healed cut on her head. She looked at Donna who smiled."Boss?" asked Jax "You allright?"Lux laid a hand to her head and grimaced."Tired," she whispered and fell backwards.Jax picked her up quickly."If the rest of ya'll are five by five, I'm gonna take Lux here to her room." she exclaimed "Damn girl, overdoing herself like always."


	21. MEMORIES and HERE THEY ARE

Memories (On Behalf of Cat)

Relief washed over Cat as she saw Donna Gryphon fall back from the computer she had been holding and the system come miraculously back on line. The fear for Brennan's and Jesse's fate had almost been more than she could bear without howling her impotency to the four winds. She helped the injured to the lab and, quietly, escaped to her room. She needed some time alone to think things over.

Cat opened the locked drawer in her closet and took her journal out. The journal had been Adam's idea, so she could collect her feelings, her thoughts and work out her many problems on her own. She took the business card she had tucked in the journal and sat on the bed, her back agains the pillows. She stared a long time at the card, remembering the moment she had been handed it and the strange Asian woman who had approached her at her mother's wake. The same Asian woman whose face had filled the computer screen moments before Jesse lost control of the Helix. The smirking face of the man Jax had identified as the New Order leader had named her Yukio.Cat sighed at the memory, at the woman's nerve. How could memories be always so painful. She would kill for a bout of amnesia that made her forget Silver, the GSA, sub-govs and pods, fights and wounds... She was so tired of memories, of  
guilt, of suspicion...The knocking on the door startled her awake. She must have dozed off! Cat jumped and yanked the door open only to fall into Brennan's arms. "Thank God you're back!" she exclaimed. "I was so scared!" And they kissed as never before, as the elemental closed the door behind him.

Here They Are

After breakfast, the small army gathered at Sanctuary met in the main computer room, where their comand post was to be. Adam motioned to Lux and Jax to take over the meeting and the young psionic and healer surveilled the assembly. She had been introduced to the Cascade-Mac group, as they were, for lack of a better name, now called. Quickly, Lux Windsor did an inventory of the forces now allied against a common foe:

1- Four ferals, counting two feline cats, one feline lion, one falcon.2- Three multipsionics with offensive and deffensive powers counting Emma among them.3- One psionic telekinetic.4- One elemental.5- One molecular, not counting herself.

6- Two Sentinels, whatever that was, evolutionary mutants with sensory enhancement, perhaps.  
  
7- Two regular humans, the Sentinels' guides, their ground wire, so to speak.

8- Two bona-fide, genuine geniuses, for the new arrival had brought another one into their midst, in the form of an aging but fit man by the name MacGyver.Yes, with that Brancaleone's army, maybe they stood a chance against the ruthlessness of Nickolas Lareou and his New Order."Max?" she called to the boy in the computer screen, "what's the news on St. Michael's?"Maximilian's face darkened. "Thanks to your vision, we could evacuate the premises," he informed his leader. "The church, the shelter and the ambulatory, however, burned to the ground. It was the Salamander, all right. Same old method: no accelerante, no smells, a blue fire almost impossible to put out.""#%$..." swore Jax McManus under her breath. St. Michael's had been their first and best shelter for new mutants in the West Coast. Now, it was a lump of coal. "Da sack-o-#%$ is gonna pay..." Whenever pissed off, her brogue thickened almost beyond understanding.  
  
"Max, I'll send instructions for rebuilding," said Lux with a sigh. "Now, I need the rest of the files of the New Order."One by one, the files of the renegade mutants shone on screen, projected by Maximilian's whiteless eyes. Nickolas Lareou, leader and sonic elemental; Mumbata Ntobo, botanical elemental; Yukio Matsumoto, digicyber; Aidaan Malone, shapeshifter molecular; Yanos Panarides, chemical elemental; Bree Williams, geological elemental. The newcomers to the foe fold, Alex Tremayne, organic molecular, and Windell Mann, climate elemental.The multipsionic, then, as if savoring the moment, announced, "Now, ladies and gentlemen, _la piéce de résistance..."_

_  
__"C'est si bon..." _Adam muttered, in perfect French.

"Nobody knows the Salamander's name and looks, right?" she asked the group."Not even Menachem knows that, Lux." retorted Adam. "He would have told me.""Well, we do have a file on him. Max!"The screen lit up with the face of a man in turban and the information on their most dangerous foe to that date. Adam stood up slowly and approached the picture. Of course... One of the unaccounted ones. Angela herself had been one of those, the ones not mentioned in his oh so complete database."Salumandr Pandiat Singh..." he read the chart, closed his eyes and breathed deep. "I remember his parents, Rajeev and Salima. They were with the Pakistani embassy and Rajeev, as a Sikh, needed a heir to carry on the ritual Singh, lion, surname after his own." Adam turned from the screen and faced his friends. "Salima had already miscarried a few times. Rajeev begged Breedlove to save that pregnancy and Paul accepted. After the pregnancy was secured, Rajeev returned with his wife to Pakistan and I never knew of their fate." He pointed to the screen. "Here it is.""This is the New Order, folks." completed Lux. "These are our enemies.""You forgot one," Cat shot from the corner where she was sitting on Brennan's lap."And who should that be, Miss Kitty Kat?" asked the lioness bodyguard.And Cat answered, "Me."


	22. THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG

The Cat Is Out of the Bag (On Behalf of Cat)

All eyes turned to Cat, as Brennan stood up, making the feline feral jump from his lap. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Cat looked at each person present, drew breath and steeled herself. It was time to come out in the open, no more hiding. "You know I haven't been myself lately. There was something eating me up." She sighed. "To be perfectly honest, I was so confused... I had even second thoughts about staying in the team." She turned to Brennan. "What kept me from leaving was you..." and to Rev, "and you."She was now in the middle of the room, a star in a play with a captive audience. "Anyway, you must understand, please! My mother was dead, my family wanted me as far away as possible... I had to keep an eye open lest Silver would kill me then and there... And she tried, I still have the scars to prove it." She turned to Adam. "I was mad at you, mad at the world, mad at the stars, at my mother for bearing me... I was so utterly confused..." Cat collected her thoughts, remembering her mother's wake. "It was then that a very soft spoken Asian woman approached me in the middle of my mother's wake. She invited me to join a group of new mutants that would bring a new order to all genetic altered people in the world. And she knew everything there was to know about me and my family and the GSA and about me and Mutant X... She knew it all!" Cat looked again at Brennan, but he averted his eyes.Revolution's cheeks were getting hotter and hotter, her temper rising and her blood starting to boil. "And when exactly were you planning on telling us your little tragedy tale? After we were all dead and buried?" she exploded."I told the woman I'd think about it, just to get rid of her..." Cat mumbled."And you didn't think about telling us, not even after hearing so much talk about the New Order?" Brennan was fuming."The woman talked about _a_ new order, not _the_ New Order!" Cat's voice was raising in pitch. "So many things happened since I got here. Allison's murder, Lux arriving... I honestly forgot all about it, until yesterday, when the woman's face popped up on the computer screen. Then I recognized her and I put two and two together.""And why didn't you tell anything after Donna kicked the bitch out of our computer system?" Asked Shalimar."I was going to tell you all about it." Cat was panting now. This was more difficult than she had thought. "After we took Blair, Donna and Angela to the lab, I went to my room to pick this up." She fished the card from her back pocket and handed it to Adam. "I sat on my bed to think things over and I must have dozed off." She stopped there and looked at Brennan. No other details were needed. She sat down on the edge of the couch, her elbows on her knees, hands coverting her face and sobbed. "I'm so sorry, but I was so confused..."Adam studied the card. A simple business card with a cell phone number on it. He stood up and knelt facing Cat. Gently, he took her hands off her face and lifted her chin, looking straight into her eyes. "Don't worry about it, it's all right," he said, wiping the tears that were running down her cheeks. "You haven't betrayed anybody... At least, not yet."Cat's head snapped up and she sat straight on the couch. "What do you mean? I won't do nothing of the sort! I won't betray Mutant X! No way!"Adam smiled, "No, Cat, you will, but under my orders." His smile broadened. "You've just cracked us open a door to the New Order."

Donna's Thoughts On Cat/Setting The Stage

Donna was very quiet listening to what Cat had said. She was angry sure, but she wasn't angry at Cat. She was angry at the other telecyber, Yukio Mishimoto. Angry at her for trying to take advantage of Cat when she was at her most vulnerable. Donna had spent her life after finding out about her powers fighting for people who couldn't fight for themselves. To making sure that others weren't victimized by others who were stronger than themselves. She was also angered by the fact that Yukio was a new mutant and was using her gifts for evil and not to make the work a better place. The New Order were definitely not gonna make the word better. They were gonna turn it into a Hitler-like society where New Mutants were the rulers and ordinary people were their slaves. Not a place were everyone could live together in peace. Call her idealistic but this New Mutant thought that the world that she wanted was far better than the one that the Salamander envisioned.

And the fact that he had burned St. Micheals to the ground was another nail in his coffin in Donna's opinion. When this was over she would see if she could help Father Dowling and Sister Steve try and rebuild the church. She hoped that no one was seriously hurt.Then she heard what Adam had in mind. Sending Cat in as a double agent for Mutant X, The Ring, and the Cascade Group was ingenious. Of course it came from a bonifide genius so it had to be. She really was in awe of the man."Yeah, and I wanna send that evil telecyber a virus of my own." Donna added. "If you can get in then that gives the rest of us the chance to kick their mutant butts into a new order of our own." Blair looked at Donna. He had never seen her so determined. Of course the stakes had never been this high."Whoa, Mainframe." Jax said laughing. That broke the tension way apart, "Are you sure you aren't a feral?""Adam can vouch for it. I am pure Grade A 100% Psionic. We can kick major arse too ya know." Donna said with a huge smile on her face as she looked at Jax. "Multi-Psionic at that."  
  
Lux patted Jax's shoulder, "Ferals aren't the only ones with attitude my friend.""Let's put our heads together then." Emma said.Cat was glad that they didn't all turn against her. She didn't know about Brennan though. He was uncharacteristically quiet. She was gonna have to have a talk in private with him later to set things straight.MacGyver made a suggestion. "What we need is a little show for the New Order to see. Make them see which side that Cat has chosen."Donna knew what her future father-in-law was getting at. "And a script that needs to be carried out."Angela added, "And the proper players to carry it out.""Sister," Donna turned to Angela. "are you thinking what I am thinking?""I've always wanted to be the star of an off off, Broadway show." Angela laughed.They were all listening in to the two as they were going back and forth with each other. They caught on to what they were saying. Cat finally said, "I will do everything that I can to help stop them. You have my word."Jim said, "We give them a show that they won't forget. Cory, Sam, Blair, Mac, and I will take up positions and keep watch over what is happening just to make sure that nothing goes wrong.""With two Sentinel's we can see everything." Cory added to his fellow sentinel's proposal."And a slue of Ferals with heightened senses as well." Shalimar also added.Emma said, "And Psionics as well.""Angela, Cat, and I will be the players." Donna said, "And I can drop a dime to the Cascade safe house were we will be if anyone wants to reach us. I am sure that Windel will find out and tattle to his little friends.""And Mutant X can be in the shadows as well keeping watch as well." Jesse offered."He hurts one hair on HawkGirl, Athena," Brennan said, "Or Cat's head," Cat was encouraged, "and they are in for a little smackdown of the elemental kind." And he makes a Tesla Coil with his fingers.Adam piped up at last, "Now all we have to do is set the stage."


	23. WHEN OPPORTUNITY RINGS SOMEONE BETTER AN...

When Oppurtunity Rings...Someone Better Answer

Revolution sighed heavily.

"I got an idea," she said."Yes?" asked Adam.She rolled her eyes at him. Nothing like the condenscending 'I'm just listening to you so you don't throw me across the room' tone."What about the new clinic?" she asked "The one you've been having me run nineteen thousand security checks on.""I don't know," said Angela "I'd hate to put the other workers in danger.""You won't have to," said Jax, her bright eyes lighting up "We'll stock it up for you.""I don't know," Angela exclaimed again "They would have to at least have some medical training."  
  
"Well...You'd have Lux and you, Angela." said Adam.Anyone could see the wheels turning in Adam's head."And My girl Mckenna," said Lux smiling."So what's the plan?" asked Brennan."Don't look at me," said Revolution "I'm just location scout."Jesse laughed and kissed the top of Revolution's head.

First Steps

Adam was musing, and he suddenly stood up and asked for silence. "I like the idea of using the clinic, but not just now," he said. "This kind of set up must be built brick by brick. Cat can´t just change sides all of a sudden, they´ll never buy it."

"You have some idea bouncing around this brain of yours, haven´t you?" anticipated Donna.   
  
"Always, GryphonLady," he smiled. If he could have his way, Donna Gryphon wouldn´t be working for Cascade PD anymore. Alas, nothing was perfect. "Jesse, Riley, Brennan, Cat, Blair and Donna, how do you feel about painting this town red?""A night on the town?" Jesse was puzzled."With a love quarrel, a very public one, please," completed Adam. "Cat, I need you and Brennan to fight. Loudly." He turned to Brennan and Cat, placed his hands on their shoulders. "I need you to do something very difficult. Are you up to anything?"They looked at each other, then back to Adam and nodded. The older man went on. "Brennan, I need you to slap her.""Oh, no, man... Wait a minute..." the elemental started, only to be stopped by Cat´s hand on his chest."That´s OK. I think I know what he wants." Cat was actually smiling. Adam´s idea was very clever indeed."Donna, Blair, Jesse and Riley, you´ll interfere in the quarrel," he instructed. "I want you to come this close to really painting this town red. Blood red." And he drew his fingers together to less than a millimeter."You did it when we were in college, you brat!" exclaimed MacGyver with a smile that lit up his entire face. "Your study group seemed to be falling apart with dissent only to work as a symphony orchestra when we were in the laboratory!""That´s exactly what I want!" Adam laughed loud. Mac was one of a kind, one of the few minds he actually respected. And they went way back. "I want Lareou and his New Chaos to think we are fighting amongst ourselves. I want his arrogance to take over. That will be his undoing.Donna was excited with the plan and it showed on her flushed cheeks. "I´ll drop a word, just casually, I´ll be out tonight with the others when I call Cascade´s safehouse. Windbagman will surely find out," offered Donna."And I´m sure the New Order will have Cat under surveillance," that was Jim Ellison, the detective.  
  
"I´m counting on it. Tomorrow, we will take the Cascade Group to the clinic." Adam was in full strategist mode. There was nothing more fun than to set a plan in motion. "We will, apparently, show them around and organize things so a new director, Makenna, can take the Underground Health Care over, so Angela can step up to Allison´s job." He turned to Cat. "We will turn on you, then, Catherine. I´m sorry, but we will turn on you hard."Cat lowered her eyes and smiled faintly. "No problem. I know it´s just for show.""It is, be sure of that," he reassured her, knowing how sensitive Cat was.MacGyver, uncharacteristically talkative, raised his hand. "If this New Order is so well connected, then your clinic must be overflowing with spy devices.""And you´re counting on it, too!" Jax McManus butted in.Adam smiled broadly. Enough of just reacting to Lareou´s antics. Mutant X, the Ring, the Cascade Group, that is, the Alliance, was biting back. "Cat, that´s when you´ll contact the New Order. If you haven´t been contacted by them yet, that is." He looked at his army, ever the strategist. "Shalimar, you, Jax, Jim, Sam and Cory, keep an eye on our party animals here." He turned to Donna, Blair, Revolution, Jesse, Brennan and Cat. "Ladies and gentlemen, don´t you have to get ready to have fun?"


	24. REVELATIONS

Revelations/Getting Ready For The Ball

When Donna heard about the plan to get dressed up and go out on the town she was worried. THAT was the one thing that she didn't make an emergency bag for. She had a toothbrush and paste and other toiletries and her purse with her makeup and of course a couple of days change of clothing. Nothing special just jeans and a T-Shirts. But he didn't have a single dress or nice outfit. Come to think about it she didn't have a dressy outfit to her name. When she had to go out for something special a meeting or something like that she had a dress jacket that she wore over a shirt or her black leather jacket for which she did bring because she didn't go on a mission without it. It gave her good luck in her opinion.  
  
Emma felt her surge of panic and whispered in Shalimar's ear. Shalimar spoke up to Donna, "Don't worry honey, I think you are about my size. I should have something in my closet that will suit you just fine." Donna gave her a grateful look and the girls with Angela in tow wanting to see her sister by fire dressing up for a change. "When we are done with you, you'll have Blair eating out of your hands." Shalimar laughed.

Blair heard Shal' and yelled, "She already has me!"Jax piped up and yelled to Donna, "Way to go, Mainframe!"Donna laughed, "Why do you think he puts up with all my weirdness!" It was Jax's turn to laugh.  
  
Jax walks past Blair and gives him a pat on the back as she goes over to the computer to set everything up with her group. Adam goes over to Mac and asks, "Any chance that I can get your future daughter-in-law over on my team?"Mac looked at Adam with a grin and said, "No, Donna is set on making the world a safer place so women can walk down the street without fear of being attacked."Adam gives a serious look at his old friend and asks him to step to the side so that he can talk to Mac in private, "When I first met Donna and did a scan of her DNA I noticed several scars on her stomach and back. Do you know what is that all about? I tried to look into it but I suspect that the young telecyber did a number on the net to erase that information."  
  
MacGyver looks down at the floor and his feet and then back up with an even more serious look on his face, "Next month it will be two years since she was kidnapped outside of her home in Kentucky by a gang calling themselves the "Clockwork Orange Gang".""I heard about that gang. They are in Huntsville prison in Texas now. Their last attempt to rape and kill a woman in Kentucky failed. That was Donna?" Now he knew what drove the young psionic."Yep, the only thing that kept them from killing her too was that her powers kicked in and she was able to stop them. Not without a lot of damage to her body though. She had to learn how to walk again. They had severed her spinal column. Detective Evans' cousin was her doctor. He found out about her powers and took her away from were she was and gave her a place to be able to learn how to walk again and learn to use her powers. And Josh taught her martial arts and self defense techniques too. She grew up in a very stressful environment and her powers were suppressed that is why they didn't come out until then."

She must have gone in on the cellular level to telekinetically repair the damage." Adam thought aloud. "A scan of her DNA suggests that she has great potential. I think that later I should talk to her about it. We haven't really had a chance to sit down and talk."

"She tends to keep that to herself." Blair walked up and added to the two men's chat. "You can talk to her about other things and she is just fine but that is the one thing that bothers her the most."Blair and the others in Cascade have been real good for her. I don't think that she would leave them for anything." Mac said. "Donna is very loyal to the people she loves. Though I suspect that she has become pretty loyal to Mutant X. I'm sure that she would help you guys out in a heartbeat if you ever needed her."Blair added to what his father said, "Yeah, you should hear what she says about you guys. Man, she thinks the world of all of you."Adam was encouraged by what the father and son had said. He knew that something drove Donna and now he understood.A few minutes later all the players in the little drama were all dressed for the ball. Blair had never seen Donna look like she did before in a pair of black leather pants and boots and a tight fitting top with flaring sleeves. Her hair cascading down her back. She was dressed to kill. Blair whistled and Donna blushed. The boys too were dressed to a T with Blair borrowing one of Jesse's outfits. Donna contacted the Cascade safe house and dropped the dime.  
  
And they were on their way


	25. CHARMING, I'M SURE

Charming...I'm Sure.

Revolution swore under her breath as she pushed the last stubborn curl back behind her ear.

"Rev? Honey?"asked Jesse as he walked into her room "You ready? Everyone is waiting."She zipped up her ankle length boots and grabbed her bracelets from her vanity."How do I look?" she asked."You look...Wow."She was dressed in a ruby red sweater that looked normal from the front but the back had been cut away and the two sides were held together by three ruby colored ribbons. The skirt, if anyone had asked her, was her favorite. An unauthroized trip to NYC with Cat and Emma had been where she had found it. In the last aisle in a dusty old thrift shop, it had been like a shot of gold, a skirt made from red and maroon ties.Jesse helped Revolution into the car."You scared?" she asked Cat as they squished in together."A bit," replied the feral."Your going to be just fine," whispered Brennan.Revolution nodded and laid her head on Cat's shoulder."Chaos 66" whispered Jax as the second car arrived at the club "Freakishly fitting."Shalimar nodded."Okay guys," said Emma "There are three New Order members there.""Who?" asked Jax."Bree, Yanos and...""Aidaan," finished Jax."Jax," said Adam over her com link "I want you to stay away from him.""Who's Aidaan?" asked Cory."An old friend of the family," whispered Jax her eyes flashing."Who's Aidaan?" echoed Angela."Jax's ex-fiance," said Lux "A molecular with shapeshifting abilities. He used her likeness to kill one of the original members of The Ring.""She went to jail for a couple of years," said Emma."It was horrible," said Lux "I knew she didn't do it but what could I do? Go to the LAPD and say gee mister officer but my best friend didn't kill anybody cause I read her mind?""Well...Girls," said Jax "Now that you've told Hawkgirl about my tortured life how about the exact locations of our bestest new friends?""The bar," exclaimed Emma."Drinkers huh? well at leat Aidaan aint changed his ways.""Jax," said Adam "No drinking either.""Aww #%$," said Jax "There goes my night."Shalimar laughed and patted her arm."Care to dance?" asked Jesse."Thought you didn't dance?" asked Revolution."I dance...I'm not very good but I do dance." laughed Jesse.She took his hand and smiled."Well...then lets dance."Cat watched them as they danced. She laughed slightly when a klutzy Jesse bumped right into Donna, knocking the otherwise graceful Psionic to the ground."You want to dance?" asked Brennan.She shook her head."Hey, promise me something?" she asked."Anything."  
  
"Watch out for Rev, will ya?" she asked."Absoulutely."  
  
He kissed her palm gently and smiled."Rev asked me to give this to you," he said pulling something out of his pocket "She said she would have given it to you but she knew that you'd cry and you know how she is with tears."  
  
Cat laughed as Brennan hooked a silver charmbracelet around her wrist."For luck," he whispered.She hugged him tightly."Shall we?" she asked."Lets do this," he whispered."Okay guys," said Sam "Brennan just gave the signal.""Jax and Jim stay near the others, Shalimar and Sam, I want you two to stay at the bar." said Adam."Ten four, good buddy," said Jax."Time to rock and roll," whispered Donna.Revolution nodded."Remember though, not to jump in right away," said Blair.Revolution could see them from where she danced. Cat's face was tight with anger as she glared at Brennan who was saying something fast and using his hands to make his point."#%$ You!" yelled Cat as she kicked over the table "You have no Idea what you're talking about. As Usual!""Well, how would I know when You won't tell me." said Brennan "I bet you told him!""whose him?" whispered Donna."Cat cheated on Brennan," said Revolution "That's the scenario.""Oh," said Donna "Makes sense.""It's not my fault your always fawning all over Emma and Shalimar to notice.""Whoa..." whispered Shalimar "How'd I get dragged into this?""I was wondering the same thing," said Emma.The club had gotten ten times quieter since the fight began. It must have been near silent when Brennan reached back and smacked Cat hard across the face."Jesus," whispered Jax.Cat touched her mouth where a bit of blood had began to run and kicked Brennan hard in the gut."Stop It!" yelled Revolution as she raced towards them."Shut up!" yelled Cat kicking her against the wall."Riley!" yelled Jesse who massed and slammed his fist into Cat."Guys," whispered Lux "Revolution is really unconscious. wrap it up.""How does it feel, Cat?" asked Donna as she stood over Cat."What?" sneered Cat as she struggled to stand up."That you just knocked unconscious the first and last person to truly trust you." replied Donna.  
  
Jesse lifted Revolution up."Gotta get out!" yelled Cory."Yeah," said Shalimar "The fish are about to bite."


	26. RUBY RED ROSE

Ruby Red Rose (Written Together with Cat)

The falcon´s eyes were glowing amber feral as they swept the club´s entrance from the vantage point atop the building. As the strange bird spotted the scantly dressed woman storm out the door, it flicked the comring and instructed sharply, "Jim, Blair, tail Cat. Don´t blow her cover." That moment, a young blond man carrying an unconscious girl in his arms stepped out. The comring flicked again. "Jesse, to the back alley, fast." And the bird took flight after the couple, landing as the man lowered the girl to the pavement. Taking control of the situation, the bird quickly ran her gnarled hands through the girl´s body, searching for broken bones. She rapidly found the tender spot on the girl´s side, evidence of broken ribs. The girl´s breath was labored, gurgling sounds coming from her mouth, together with a thick trickle of blood worming its way down her chin.

As a strong redheaded woman and a slim brunette came running her way, the bird feral called, "Lux, Riley´s got a pierced lung!" The redhead pulled the young man from the girl´s side to give room to her boss so she could work her magic. The brunette placed her hands on the girl´s sides and her eyes slowly lit up until they reached a blazing white. The girl´s body under Lux Windsor´s hands glowed the same shade of white and her breath improved noticeably. Then, Lux pulled her hands from the girl and turned to her lioness bodyguard. Her eyes, already back to normal, rolled up into her head and she collapsed in Jax McManus arms.The bird´s comring flicked again. "Adam, have the Med Lab ready. Riley´s down with broken ribs and a pierced lung. Lux helped, but she´s still in danger. It will be faster if we fly in." The creature than turned to the young blond man and she commanded without even realizing that she, too, was a natural born leader. "You and the rest of the gang, wrap up this brawl and we will meet at Sanctuary." She lifted the girl´s limp body and cradled it in her arms. Turning away from her friends, she slightly bent her knees and leaped, huge wings flapping in the air, as she took off and gained height, soaring above the buildings.&&&  
  
Cat ran for one, two, three, four blocks until the grief that clenched her heart made her stop. She staggered through a side alley with garbage bins to her right, and leaned on the grimy wall to her left, her back to the street, and felt her knees buckle under her. All that had happened was playact, but it gave no relief to the burning sensation she felt on her swelling cheek and on her bulging lip. The memories of a time not too long ago were all too real, of another man, Mark, hurting her like that and worse were all to vivid. The pain in her heart and soul was so overwhelming she didn´t even hear the three street thugs coming from behind. Only when they stopped and what seemed to be the leader wolf whistled and sneered, "Cute!" did she notice them.She was instantly alert and conscious that the way she was clad didn´t help her a bit. Her dark blue outfit left very little to the imagination, exposing her long legs and muscular arms and back. Slowly, she stood up, wiping the tears that ruined whatever remained of her makeup, but she didn´t turn to the three man behind her, waiting for their next move instead.  
  
The three men in black studded leather outfits and chains were leering as they anticipated an easy prey. There was fun to be had and that slut would provide it. "It seems this hooker is dressed for a party. And a party she´ll have," the boss addressed his mates, already drooling over the woman. He walked a few steps toward her and reached his hand to grab her arm.In what appeared to be slow motion, Cat turned to her right, facing her assailants, her eyes glowing yellow in the dark alley, a predator ready for the hunt. "You want a party, boys?" she asked, her voice the snarl of a panther. "Let the fun begin." And her foot connected directly to the first thug´s chin, his head snapping to the side as blood and teeth sprang from his mouth.The slender woman now faced the three furious men, her feet wide apart, giving her balance for the fight. The three men lunged at her, as she jumped high in the air in an impossible somersault that landed her behind them. Her foot kicked the nearest assailant in the small of the back, making him plunge into his mates. And the woman never broke her motion, turning and swirling like a devil, the heels of her boots connecting every blow, her fists smashing noses and mouths. The men could barely see her. One moment she was in front of them, backhanding one, punching the other. Next, she was climbing the walls and using their own backs as stepping stones for leaps that made her appear on the most improbable places, grabbing arms that tried in vain to stop her and twisting elbows that snapped like twigs under her assault. The three men in search of an easy target to rape and beat were reduced to a pile of moaning, sobbing flesh that begged for mercy.From the opposite side of the street, too far for Blair Sandburg´s regular human eyes, but clear as a movie screen for Jim Ellison´s sentinel´s heightened sight, the Cascade detectives witnessed as the blue clad Hell fury destroyed three street heavy weights. Blair, unable to see the outcome of the fight, pushed Jim on. "She needs help, lets go!" Jim, a hard boiled Major Crimes detective, who had seen his fair share of strange things, was not about to be moved. "Believe me, Chief, she doesn´t need any help. Those guys, on the other hand…" Blair looked at his partner, doubt crossing his face. Jim went on, his chin hitting the pavement, "Chief, she´s turning them into ground beef. I say let her."When the three toughs couldn´t be recognized as men anymore, Cat halted her attack and stepped back to study her job. They could barely move and their eyes were washed out with fear and pain. The fun was over, and her fury with it.She turned around to leave the alley and saw, sketched against the streetlight at the entrance, the figure of an incredibly tall and gaunt black man, his dreadlocks reaching his shoulder blades, wearing a tight fitting strangely embroidered vest that left his long, wiry arms bare. The man seemed to be made out of vine and twine himself.Cat recognized him immediately from the Ring´s database. That was Mumbata Ntobo, the botanical mutant that had helped spring a very dangerous foe from Cascade´s prison. She stepped ahead cautiously as the black man leaned forward till his long-fingered hand lightly touched the ground almost between Cat´s feet. As he drew his hand up again, a briar rose bush broke from the concrete sidewalk, springing up and sprouting a perfectly formed blood-red bud. The black man looked her straight in the eyes, cracked a wolfish grin that exposed his long white teeth, plucked the rose and offered to Cat with a bow. The young feline feral looked at the rose and took it in her hand. When she lifted her eyes back up, the black man was nowhere to be seen, apparently vanished into thin air. So, thought Cat, this was the second invitation to join the New Order. They´d bought it.She picked up her purse from the corner where it had fallen, fished a band from it, tied her long hair in a knot and inserted the long stemmed rose in it. The flower looked like a ruby against her golden locks. She left the alley, never realizing that two men saw all the exchange, and set off to run all the way back to her mountain hideout. She still had steam to blow.  
  
Hours later, already in her room, she took out her ruined dress and threw it away. The cold tap water felt good against her bruised cheek. As she looked up to her face in the mirror, she could see the purpling hues of the swelling spreading below her left eye. And she had sworn no man would ever do that again… So much for empty promises…She picked up one of her lover´s oversized T-shirts from her closet and slipped into it, the need to be near him, feel his scent was taking her over.The light knock on her door brought her back from her reverie. "Cat, it´s me, Brennan. Open the door, please." She cracked the door open just a little, and saw him against the hallway cold light. She opened it enough so he could come in, her head bowed, her left hand covering her bruised face.Brennan Mulwray had been many things: thief, conman, a career criminal now mending his ways, or trying his best to. One thing he had never been, and that was a coward, a woman batterer. He lifted Cat´s chin up and delicately took her hand from her face, so he could see the result of his action. He was horrified. He had never intended to hit her so hard, but it seems he didn´t know just how strong he was. Cat´s left cheek was a swollen purple mass, hot under his caressing hand.He slipped his hand to the nape of her neck, drawing her close to his chest and held her tight as he felt her silent sobs and her tears wet his shirt. Then, he took her by the shoulders and made her sit at the edge of the bed. He knelt in front of her, pulled her mouth to his and kissed her swollen lips with infinite gentleness, then more deeply until a soft yelp warned him he had gone a little too far. Still touching her lips with his, he felt her smile slightly as he whispered "Forgive me… forgive me… forgive me…" and only her mouth in his made him stop, as she drew him to the bed and to her heart.Morning came and he was holding her. Only love and tenderness had managed to soothe a little of the hurt imposed on the girl the night before. Brennan carefully unwrapped his arms from the slumbering Cat and stood, deciding to let her sleep her fill. She would need all the rest she could get to go through the day, which promised to be at least as rough as the previous evening had been.As he stepped in the hallway on his way to his own room, he ran into Adam, coming the other way. As they looked each other in the eyes, Brennan couldn´t help himself. With one fluid motion, he pinned the older man to the wall and hissed, "Never again ask me to do something like that."Adam Kane, although fully capable of reacting to Brennan´s roughness, seeing where he was coming from, understood his emotions only too well and chose not to do anything, but only to wrap his hand on the younger man´s wrist and look him eye to eye. "Hopefully," he said, "you´ll never have to. But I needed that.""Whatever for? Wasn´t a quarrel enough?" asked Brennan, his voice raising in pitch.Adam replied very softly, "No. In the off-chance they had a telempath with them, some new recruit we knew nothing about, I needed her emotions to ring true." He felt the hand on his shoulder release its grip. "If she was found out acting, everything would be for naught."Brennan let go of Adam´s shoulder and lowered his head. He saw the older man´s reasoning clearly now, but it didn´t help his guilt in any way. Drawing a deep breath, he looked again at his mentor´s eyes and asked, "How can you think of something like that? How can you imagine they might have a telempath? How…"Rubbing his aching shoulder, Adam stepped ahead, back on his way, and with a gesture, invited the young elemental to walk with him. "That´s my job, Brennan." And he sighed. "I have to calculate every possibility, anticipate every motion, account for every variable, be ready for anything that might go wrong with the plan. Unenviable as it is, it´s my job."And the two men went on their way, side by side.


	27. LEARNING TO FLY

Saying "I'm Sorry"/Learning To Fly

Sanctuary, the next morning:

Having not been able to sleep Donna had sneaked into Blair's room and curled under the covers with him and finally was able to sleep after hearing Blair's voice say, "I was hoping that you would come in here sooner or later." She couldn't help smile. Even after remembering what she had said to Cat that night. It made her feel like a heel for what she had said but she knew she had to do it. She also knew that she had to find Cat as soon as she had put herself together to tell her that she was sorry for being so harsh.She got up and dressed and then put her face on and her hair in a ponytail and then walked into the common room were she found Adam, Brennan, Shalimar, Emma, and Angela talking. The others must have still been asleep, after all it was only seven and they had all had a late night. Donna always lost sleep when she was stressed.She walked over to were Cat was sitting next to Brennan and said with a sad voice looking down at her feet, "I'm so sorry Cat, I feel bad about what I said last night. I didn't mean what I said, I hope you know that." She then looked up at her friend and was grateful for the smile that she got from Cat."You don't need to apologize," Cat laughed then, "I know you were just play acting. Did a fine job too. If I had an Oscar I would give it to you.""Nice work too, GryphonLady," That was Adam. He preferred to use the nick from the net most of the time"Did it work?" Donna asked her new leader."Like a charm. They contacted The Cat almost immediately after she left the club." Adam answered.  
  
"Adam thought that there might be a telempath in their ranks so it is good that you acted the way that you did to make it more believable." Brennan said to the multi-psionic."Great, first Alex Tremayne, then Windbagman, now you think that they have a telempath. It was bad enough knowing that a telecyber is working with them. I think I'm getting sick now." Donna leaned against the wall near Adam. She looked up at Adam and said, "Well until the New Chaos as you call them is thoroughly taken care of you can consider me a full time Mutant X member." the GryphonLady lifted her silver banded finger, " I want them gone."  
  
"I hope that means that you are up to anything that I throw at you to do." Adam said with a huge grin on his face."Tell me to jump and I will ask you how high.""And I will teach her how to fly." Revolution said looking from Adam to Donna."Are you kidding? Fly like you do, and Angela too?" Donna looked at the powerful telekinetic.  
  
"Sure, you are just as powerful as I am, I don't see why you couldn't fly like me. We can start as soon as you are ready." Rev said as she stopped beside her fellow psionic."Well I have levitated a few inches off the ground a couple of times and sometimes I would wake up floating above my bed. But I never thought about trying to fly. Just never occurred to me to try." Donna was thrilled at the idea of being able to take off like Revolution and her sister hawk. She really loved those few times that Angela had taken her for a flight. Her spirits lifted to the sky.Adam said as he got up from were he was sitting, "Well that gives the three of you," and he points a finger at Angela, "something to do this morning while we wait for Ntobo to contact Cat."  
  
Angela said finally, "Well, let's go get something to eat so we won't be flying on an empty stomach." She had a doctors tone to her voice. They all did what the good doctor said. Blair had woke up and joined them.After finding out what they were going to do he said to Donna, "Just never take me on a flight."  
  
Laughing Donna said, "I'm gonna get that fear of heights out of you honey.""Oh, no you don't. I like being on the ground too much.""Give it a rest Gryph'," Angela said, "Some people weren't meant for the sky."After the breakfast Revolution thought that it would be best if they started inside Sanctuary with some small exercises in levitation and Donna picked up pretty good. She looked down at Angela from her vantage point halfway between the floor and the ceiling, "Hey Angela! You never told me how freeing this can be. I love it.'Revolution said to her new student, "Just you wait until you are flying in the mile high club!"  
  
Jax and Lux walked into the room just as Donna was doing a flying leap from the floor to the second landing totally bypassing the stairs. "Mainframe, I didn't know that you were a feral too!"Looking down at the two Ring members she said, "I'm not, Rev here is teaching me how to do what she does. Though I think that it will be a long time before I can join the Mile High Club that her and Angela belong to. Can't wait though.""Patience, Donna San." Revolution said."Allright Miyagi San. I will remember to wax on and wax off in the meantime." Donna replied. Revolution rolled her eyes.

Say Uncle

"Revolution!" whispered Jesse as he walked into her dark room "You still asleep?"

That's weird, he thought as he closed the door."That's it Donna!" yelled Revolution as she floated around the top of sanctuary.The older woman closed her eyes and floated a bit higher."Good!" yelled Angela from her perch."In no time, you'll be...." said Revolution as a sharp pain rippled down her side.Angela looked over and saw the younger woman's grimace."You okay?" asked Angela "I told you that you should be resting.""I'll rest when I'm dead," said Revolution through gritted teeth.The falcon shook her head."When are you going to realize that your not indestructible?" she asked.Revolution rolled her eyes."I've been through enough, I think I am plenty capable of knowing my limits." She whispered.  
  
"There is a difference between knowing your limits and putting unesscary stress on yourself"You know what? You don't know me." said Revolution"I know what you're going through," whispered Angela."Uh...No ya don't.You think you're so wise and all knowing just because you've had a rough life. well, so have the rest of us." hissed Revolution."Now Riley, that's not fair," said Donna."Why not? Why isn't it fair?" Revolution asked as her altitude lowered with her waning strength.  
  
"Because she's....""Only trying to help?" exclaimed Revolution rolling her eyes "Look save it! I don't need coddling...Not from Angela...not From you. NOT FROM ANYONE!."Revolution landed softly on her feet and ran from the room. In her haste to exit the room, she knocked an oncoming Jesse over. She lifted herself off of him and slumped back against the wall."Riley? Sweetheart?" whispered Jesse as he tucked her hair behind her ears "Are you all right?"  
  
She looked up at him, her bright eyes shining with fiercely held back tears."Yes...No," she whispered as the flood of tears poured down her cheeks "I'm tired, I'm scared and My side hurts like a bitch."Jesse leaned over and kissed the trail of tears that had made their way down her cheek. The molecular stood up and lifted his girlfriend into his arms. She leaned against his chest and closed her eyes slightly."Here, lay down," said Jesse as he set her on his bed."Jess?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Would you stay with me?" asked Revolution."Of course" whispered Jesse settling down next to her on the bed.He laid down facing her. A sheepish grin settling over his boyish face."What's so Funny?" she asked."Nothing," he replied."Liar," she said grinning "Even though I'm injured, I'll still get it out of you.""Oh Really?" asked Jesse.She leaned over like she was about to tickle him and he seized that moment to kiss her softly.   
  
"Cheater," she whispered and kissed him passionately.He placed his hands on her shoulder and pushed her away."I don't want to hurt you," he whispered.She grinned impishly and kissed him again."I'll say uncle," she whispered in his ear as the door to his room slid shut.

Freedom!

Shaking her head, Angela Fontenelle, falcon half-breed and very frustrated mutant doctor watched as her best friend and sister in fire, a very excited Donna Gryphon, alighted from her first flight attempt. "Quite a temper, huh?" Donna pointed to the door, where Rev had just left.

"Yes, but she's still very young," the falcon answered. "She tries to hide her frailty with a lot of... what do you call it? Atittude. In order to survive, she had to steel herself against a lot of suffering. I think she ended up believing she's really made of steel.""Give her time," Donna retorted, "she'll know better.""If she doesn't die in the process," mused Angela. And she turned to her friend. "Remember our flight back here after the Foundation incident?"Donna drapped an arm aroung her friend's shoulders, just above the wings. "How could I ever forget! It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.""Look up," pointed the Avian, "see the skylight up there? I want to try something." Opening the glass bands of the skylight, Angela took off and perched on the edge. "Come, float up here."Donna Gryphon looked up, and up, and up... the skylight was very high up on the dome ceilinged room. The bird hybrid looked down, teasing her to push her body all the way up  
until she could perch by her side on the edge of the skylight. She watched as the bird woman cocked a long and large-knuckled finger calling her up. Drawing a deep breath, Donna mustered all her concentration and wished her body to leave the ground and float up, defying the laws of gravity, pushing up until she was at a level with Angela."A little more," instructed the feral. And Donna, sweat running down her back, pushed harder until her feet touched the edge of the skylight. "Now," instructed Angela, "float a  
little ahead so your feet can clear the room and you're just outside." Bending her upper body just a little, Donna pushed forward and stood floating just on the moutain side, nothing below her, nothing above her, behind her only the open skylight, in front of her only the amazing wavy landscape surrounding Stormking. The feral's voice was soft and reassuring, "Let go just a bit, enough so you can sit at the edge, here where I'm perching. That's it... That's it... Now, sit."The morning sun was in full blaze and the hills rolled under the mountain top. The training room was high up and they could see for miles on end. The falcon woman drew a very deep   
breath and laughed loud. Donna looked at her, panting, exahusted from the effort of extreme concentration, and she noticed her friend's eyes were glowing amber feral. She saw Angela stretch on her perch and simply dive in the air, unfurling her wings and gliding up as she caught a hot air column, soaring above the highest peak. The falcon flew around the hills in a graceful aereal ballet, like a child playing in a pool, only there was no water, but the open skies around her. That moment, Donna Gryphon realized her falcon friend needed the space and the blue skies to live, her power as a telempath making her drunk on the pure joy only flight could bring, on the overflowing beauty only eyes capable os seeing the curve of the earth could experience. Take everything and anything away from that bird, even her first true love. If she had the space, the skies and her flight, she would survive.The falcon woman returned to her perch and looked at her friend, cocking her head. A smile lit up her face as she took Donna by the hand and helped her land back in the training room. She knew her psionic friend would one day know the joys of absolute freedom, it was only a matter of time and practice. "We'd better get ready to go to the clinic," she said.As they were heading for the door, hand in hand, a cloud covered the sun and, suddenly, the room was in darkness. Donna Gryphon looked at her dear sister in fire and shuddered,  
feeling her hands grow cold. Angela turned and saw Donna's face turn white, her lips drained of all color. She made a move to support her if she fainted, but Donna only looked  
at her, sweat now icy cold trickling down her back and between her breasts.Donna shook her head to clear it, wiped her drenched face and breathed deep, struggling to go back to normal. Little by little her racing heart calmed down and blood returned to her cheeks. "I'm fine, just my blood pressure plunged," she reassured the concerned doctor. It was only, she thought, a little... precog.


	28. CAT SCRATCH

Cat Scratch

Cat could hear the loud music pulsing from Revolution's room as she went to retrieve her friend.  
  
"Rev?" she asked.

"Closet!" yelled Revolution.Cat laughed and walked into to large walk in closet where Revolution sat trying to tie her shoelaces.  
  
"Help?" asked Cat."That would be fantastic," replied Revolution placing a bright red sneakered foot in Cat's lap.  
  
"How's your side?" asked Cat apprehensively."It hurts," exclaimed Revolution "But what else can you expect from broken ribs?"Cat flinched."Hey..." whispered Revolution "We were doing our job, I aint mad at ya."She took Cat's hand in her own."We are gonna get through this," she said smiling "Now help me up?"Cat smiled and stood up."Hey Angela?" asked Jesse as he jogged to catch up to her."Yes?"  
  
"She's sorry, She won't say it but she is," said Jesse.The Feral patted his arm and smiled."Is everyone ready?" asked Jax "How 'bout you Benedict Arnold?"Cat laughed nervously and nodded.

&&&  
  
The clinic was enormous.

"You outdid yourself on this one," said Lux."Thank you," said Adam "Riley? Would you run a check on the system?""Of course," said Revolution setting her dark maroon peacoat on the back of a chair and settling down."He never asks me to do stuff like that anymore," said Jesse pretending to pout."Frankly, My boy" said Revolution "Its because even Adam knows I'm better than you.""OUCH!" yelled Brennan.Cat looked around the clinic, everyone was milling around and to an untrained eye it would look like they were just excited about the new clinic. Lux looked over at her._Are you ready?_Cat looked at her and nodded._Everyone, It is time._Revolution sighed."Can I go now?" asked Cat."What?" asked Brennan."Well...Its obvious that no one wants me around," she replied."You BROKE my ribs," said Revolution "what did ya think we'd hold hands and sing songs?"  
  
Jax laughed behind her hand."You know what Revolution," Cat said "Ever since you got back from California, you've treated me like I'm stupid."Revolution rolled her eyes."Shut up," she said "As always, you have no clue what your running your mouth about."Lux laughed."What are YOU laughing at?" asked Cat."Nothing really, I was just reading Revolution's mind," replied Lux "Now Rev, that wasn't very nice thing to think.""You know what? This is your fault. Ever since the ALMIGHTY Lux Windsor came here, everything has been different," yelled Cat."Well, by the looks of things...I'm thinking it was time for a change." said Lux.Cat's eyes flashed and she lunged at Lux."Cat!" yelled Donna "What the hell are you doing?""I've got no problem with you Donna," said Cat "Keep your mouth shut."Lux lifted a hand and telekinetically tossed Cat away like a rag doll. Jax stood over Cat."Listen Kitty," she said "Go near my boss again with less then friendly ideas, and you'll find yourself in traction.""Ooo...I'm scared. You know Jax, you've been here for a couple of days now and I haven't seen you fight once." said Cat "I don't think your much of a feral.""Oh and a good feral beats the hell outta her best friend?" asked Jesse."Don't you start to," said Cat."Oh but why not?" asked Brennan "Rev is Jesse's girl, why shouldn't he defend her?""And what about you?" asked Cat "Aren't you supposed to defend me?""Not when you're wrong." whispered Brennan.Cat wiped a tear from her eyes and tilted her chin."Ah yes, Bren, I'm wrong. I musta forgotten that you have such a refined moral compass." she said rolling her eyes.Cat jumped when Adam placed a hand on her shoulder."Catherine? I think its best if you left now." he said "We don't wan't you to do something else you'll regret.""Fine."  
  
Cat grabbed her coat and flounced out of the clinic."You okay?" asked Angela.Brennan looked at her and nodded."I just hope she is," he replied.Lux patted his arm."She is, she says good job," whispered the telepath.


	29. I HAVE A BAD FEELING

I Have A Bad Feeling

  
  
Felling all the emotions in the room Donna could only keep her self steady by leaning on a counter. The feeling that she had gotten from earlier with Angela. She didn't want to worry anyone by saying anything about her precognitive felling. She had had them before and didn't like them one bit. She only hoped that none of the other psionics would pick up on it. She wasn't used to having others around her that could sense what she did and could sense her too. As they left Angela and Lux came up to the GryphonLady and Lux said, "You feel something don't you?" That was a statement of fact and a question at the same time."It's nothing." Donna tried not to let it show that she was a little upset."Oh, no it isn't. I know from reading about you in Adam's database that you have considerable psionic abilities. You feel something don't you?" She repeated the question."You had a precog after our flight!" the HawkGirl said giving her a look and saying, "Why didn't you tell me?""I didn't want anyone to worry. I'm not really used to some of my abilities and that is one of them. I don't really like that power either. I wish that I didn't have it half of the time. I did feel a very bad feeling." Donna said looking down.Blair and Adam both looked over at the girls as they were talking. They heard the last thing that Donna had said. "I think that we better see what that is all about." Adam said to the Guide.  
  
"Man, I know how accurate her feeling are, this one's a doozie Adam. I've seen her like this before." Blair said with a worried look that mirrored the Mutant X leader. They walked over to the three and Blair said, "Hey baby are you allright?""Emma?" he said indicating his telempathic teammate. "Could you come here please." Adam said."What's up?" Emma asked the older man."Donna, I want you to send Emma what you felt." Adam commanded the CPD Psionic."Adam, I don't think that I wanna go there. Send Emma something that I hate feeling in the first place." Due to the past experiences between Emma, Angela, and Donna, Donna felt just about as close to Emma as she did with Angela and didn't want to put the telempath through those feelings."It's okay GryphonLady, I can handle it. Remember, I've been at this for a long time and I know how to handle strong negative emotions." Emma reassured her psionic friend."Listen to Emma, she is a very strong psionic. I also want you to send it to me." Lux said. She wanted to know what the young woman was feeling as well. Don't worry I can handle it too." She could feel that Donna didn't want to send her the feeling as well."It's okay Donna. I want you to share it with them. They want to help as well." Adam said soothingly to his honorary teammate and gave her a pat on the back.Trusting Adam she said, "Allright. But I gotta warn you, it ain't pretty." Adam took them back to a examination room and Donna sat on the edge of a bed and closed her eyes. She sent a psionic burst to both Emma and Lux."Jax walked in just as she had finished giving Lux the precog. Lux was rubbing the bridge of her nose. "What happened? What did you do Mainframe?" Adam explained to the feral."You didn't tell us it was that bad!" Emma said looking at Donna. Adam looked from Emma to Donna. Donna didn't say a thing. She looked at her feet again her face paling a little.  
  
"How bad?" Adam asked."Big time bad." Lux answered."I knew it!" Blair added. "I keep telling you not to hold back.""I'm afraid of my powers sometimes. They are so strong and I don't want to hurt anyone with them or worry anyone." she said looking at the love of her life.Adam sighed and rubbed his nose and looked pointedly at Donna, "I don't care how insignificant you may think it is. I want you to tell me the moment that you have another hit. Trust your powers GryphonLady. Don't hold back. Let them guide you, they are there for a reason." The psionic looked up at Adam and gave a weak nod. He then takes her Com-Link adorned hand and says, "Leave the worrying to me. I can handle it."Angela piped in, "Sis, don't bottle it. We're your friends."A lone tear fell from the woman's eye and she said, "I know."And they joined the others and filled them in on what was up. And soon everyone was heading back to Sanctuary sans Cat. Donna looked in the direction that Cat had fled and hoped that the woman was going to be allright.As they were on there way back to the mountain hideaway Angela said, "Come on sis, let's go flying. Best medicine next to laughter. Laughter coming in second of course."Angela always knew how to make Donna feel better and she smiled and said, "Sounds great." She took a deep cleansing breath. Thinking to herself, 'I hope I become as strong a person as HawkGirl is someday.' Donna's sister by fire and a true Earth Angel. "I wonder if Rev can join us. She's good."Adam watched as the two girls were off with Blair in tow and said to the two Ring members, "Those two are definitely good for each other. Revolution should spend time with them. Might help her as well.""Just think of three flyers on our side." Lux Windsor said to her friend."Well, as HawkGirl and GryphonLady say, "Fly High..........Seek Peace!""Sounds good to me." Jax said.


	30. JOIN THE CLUB

Join the Club

The steps matched her own, but she could hear them clearly. The clap clap of leather soles in the pavement sounded resolute, firm, yet light and nimble. A man's step, echoing like thunder in her ears. The steps followed her without secrecy, no hiding, out in the open. The steps teased her. Until she had enough. Coming to a handy side alleyway, she slowed a bit down, turned in a graceful ballet movement, collared the dark haired guy and pulled him into the darkness. "OK, pal, enough of that. Who are you and what do you want?"

The man had a killer smile that spread little by little through his features, leaving his face crisscrossed with laughter wrinckles and deepened the scar that marked his cheek from his temple to his chin. He said nothing, attempted nothing, just lifted the perfect long-stemmed ruby red rose bud he had in his hand and offered it. He didn't bow, for Cat had him pinned to the side of the building, only his smile was broader.The Cat let him go and took the rose, a puzzled look on her face. Oh, yes... a few years older, but this was The Man, the New Order leader, the enemy that had three powerful and highly organized groups running from one side to the other, trying to put out all the fires and disasters he spread accross the mutant population."I'm Nickolas Lareou.""And I am...""Catherine Scott, feline feral, ex-GSAgent, currently Mutant X operative, and a highly trained assassin and terrorist. I know who you are.""And I know who you are," the cat shot back. "Sound elemental, ex-con, criminal organization leader and genuine pain in the ass. Your servants have been after me for a while now. What do you want?" And she let go of him."To offer you a place where your unique talents can be put to a more proper use," he answered, straightening his crisp white shirt and tucking it back into his designer jeans. "And it is also a place where you'll feel you really belong, where you'll be granted the respect you deserve.""And that would be with you and your New..." she chuckled, "...Order?"Nickolas Lareou took the young woman's hand in his, turned it over and kissed her palm deeply. "I'm hungry," he said, unexpectedly. "Care to have lunch with me?" And he gently pulled her out of the darkened alleyway and into the busy city street.&&&  
  
At a very safe distance, four men in two pairs, followed the cat. In each pair, one man, his heightened senses on full alert, both watched and heard all the exchange between the cat and the man their trained eyes immediately recognized as the New Order leader. As the couple left the alleyway, they followed still.&&&  
  
Nickolas Lareou was a man of impecable and expensive tastes. He took Cat to a trendy eatery with a wide veranda and French cuisine. Cat wasn't really used to this kind of laid back elegance, but when the lean blonde in tight black jeans and black tank top entered the restaurant, forks stopped in mid air, eyes turned from plates and women got instantaneously jealous. That was an effect Cat had on regular people Nickolas appreciated immensely.The maitress d', a fake redhead in a black pant suit, directed them to a table in the middle of the dining room, where the handsome couple could see and be seen. She handed them menus and excused herself with excessive charm.Nickolas studied the list and flashed his killer smile at Cat. "Can I order for both of us?""Sure," she answered.Now, he studied not the menu, but her. Calling a waiter, he ordered fish and an expensive chardonnay wine to go with it. While they waited for the meal, he started, "I gather you've been having problems with your current... affiliation.""You seem to know a lot of things.""Not nearly enough," he answered. "Are you happy with it?"

Cat drew a deep breath and seemed to gather her thoughts, biting her upper lit. "Not of late, no." And she looked away from him, blinking tears off her eyes.

"That bad, huh?" He slowly reached his hand and touched her cheek, still swollen and bruised under her make up and her shades, with the tip of his fingers.Cat flinched at the touch, but forced herself to relax and accept the caress. "Let's cut to the chase, Lareou. What do you propose?"He took her hand in his accross the table. "I want you to be with us," he said. "Gabriel Ashlocke was right, we are here to rule. We can bring down every government on the planet, we are unstopable. If we can get rid of the soft-hearted do-gooders such as your Mutant X and the Ring. And those meddling Cascade busybodies, who had nothing to do with us, but chose to stick their fingers where they don't belong. Too bad for them.""You want to rule the world?" Cat actually laughed.Lareou's eyes hardened and glinted like fire. "Never make fun of me, Catherine Scott," he hissed between his teeth. "I don't want to rule the world. I _will_ rule the world because I can. And I'll wipe out anyone standing on my way, starting with Adam Kane and Lux Windsor. Now, are you with me or against me?"Cat was looking at him intensely. "You know, I think you really can. Rule the world, I mean."  
  
"I have two highly trained operatives with offensive power. I need a third to speed up the power shift process. That would be you, Cat. Your training is invaluable to me.""And what's there for me?" asked Cat. Greed was one thing this man understood."For starters, revenge. How about it?""Tempting. What else?""You'll be richly rewarded, never fear," he assured. "I got word Makenna and Zack Coniglario are coming here.""Yes, she'll take the clinic over so Angela Fontenelle can take Allison Turner's job." Cat answered. "I should be helping set up a little welcoming gathering for them tomorrow, but tempers are very short lately.""Tomorrow, eh?" he mused. "Interesting..." He seemed to brighten up suddenly. "I'll give you a join up present. How would you like it?""Depends on the present," she answered warily."It's a surprise," he answered. The waiter arrived with their order. "_Bon appetit, Catherine la chat._ Enjoy your meal."


	31. MAC'N ZACK

Mac And Zack

"That's her?" asked MacGyver "That's Doc Coniglario?"

Adam looked at the tiny woman who stood nearly dwarfed by Lux and Jax. He laughed slightly and nodded to the older man. He could understand MacGyver's confusion, Makenna Coniglario did not look like the kind of woman who spent a better part of her life in medical school. She was dressed in a long patchwork skirt, whose patches were made from some of the brightest flower patterns he had ever seen and a white peasant top. Topped off by a corduroy newsboys cap and hoop earrings so large you could shoot hoops into.  
  
"Dr. Kane!" yelled Makenna embracing him "Its so nice ta see ya!""I really appreciate you coming here," he said."It's no problem," she said "Lux called, we came.""Is it just me or is her nose pierced?" asked Donna."Nope, its not just you," replied Blair."You know, In my day" exclaimed MacGyver "Doctors looked like doctors.""Ah, yes, your day." said a gravely voice "Just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, When women were seen and not heard, eh?"MacGyver turned to see a short man leaning casually against a car."Now, now Zack," said Makenna.She looked over at her husband and winked. She sauntered over to where MacGyver was standing.  
  
"You, mah friend," she whispered, her eyes sparkling "Betta hope dat ya don't hurt yaself."Then she reached over and patted his hand and flounced away.

&&&  
  
Revolution sighed heavily as more random images from safehouses flashed by.

"Rev?" asked Adam "We're on our way back inside. Close the garage.""On it," she replied."How is everyone?" asked Jax."Mylie's been hurt," said Makenna "A car accident.""Why wasn't I notified?" asked Lux."She didn't want us ta," replied Makenna "She asked ta be put in stasis 'till dis ting wit da new orda is solved.""I could have come there for a few hours," said Lux.Even as she spoke the words, she knew it wasn't true."You'se needed here more," said Makenna patting her hand "I stabilized her as much as I could."  
  
"And Jamal?" asked Jax."Who is Jamal?" asked Jesse."Jamal is Mylie's baby brother," said Revolution as she entered the room "Non New mutant."  
  
"Ah," exclaimed Jesse."He's staying with Connor and Max," exclaimed Zack."Good," whispered Lux "And Logan and Allie?""Logan sends his love, he's been so busy with the Saint Mike's rebuilding," said Zack."And Rahyll and Rory 'ave been trainin Al." said Makenna.Donna and Angela looked over at the group."What kind of mutant is she?" asked Donna."According to Lux, she's not," replied Angela "But her husband is."Donna looked over at the short man who had been so snide to her future father in law. He stood behind Makenna, a strong arm wrapped around her tiny waist. His outfit was less outlandish then his wife's, jeans, a t-shirt and a plaid fedora."A feral," continued Angela "Reptilian.""Hey Kane," said Zack "Where are me and Mac spending the night? Judging by the state of your already crowded place.""You two," said Shalimar "Will be staying at the finest safehouse that Mutant X has to offer."  
  
Makenna laughed and attached herself to Zack's arm. She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes.  
  
"You always take me to the nicest places," she cooed.He laughed and kissed her."Hey!" yelled Jesse "Cat's Back!"


	32. MAN IN BLACK

Man In Black

Harold (Harry) Bloomenfeld, canine feral, was a proud man. One of the first new mutants to be put in the Underground, he received a new identity arranged by the Man himself. That was one of the highlights of his life, a life he owed entirely to an organization that, in return, only asked for a tour of duty according to the person's talents. If not for them, he would certainly be stored in a box, with a "nail" firmly implanted in the back of his neck. If one tour of duty was requested in exchange for a normal life, he would give it gladly, and today, it was his turn to do his part in what his beautiful wife Melissa called, jokingly, the "beast brigade". And the name had stuck with his pals from his Underground security detail.   
  
The Underground... Since Ally Turner's murder, the organization had been in an uproar. Rumors abounded, security measures were amped to the highest level, the teams were in red alert. Harry dealt mostly with Vince Meisel and, sometimes, with Brennan Mulwray, head of security. He had asked about the new procedures, but they hadn't really been forthcoming and Harry didn't insist, but he could tell they were dealing with something big. And dangerous.

Recently, Harry had seen the Man a couple of times, while supervising the design of the new clinic he was watching over tonight. Harry had never dared to approach the Man, mind you, but watched from a distance while he instructed the terraformers and telekinetics working on the site. Now, the place was ready, the furniture, the machines, everything a proper hospital needed to operate was being delivered, and they were hiring the staff. His wife, Melissa, a registered nurse, had applied for a job. She wanted to work with new mutants and their families, something only natural, since they were thinking about a new addition to the family soon."It's 10 pm, security guard on duty front door," he reported on his radio. "Nothing here." And he signaled "all right" to his partner, Raisha Connors, a reptilian feral he knew was watching from the other side of the street, but could not see, since her chameleon powers blended her with her surroundings, making her virtually invisible.The silver BMW came around the corner and stopped facing the clinics front door. Harry watched its approach and signaled Raisha to stay alert. He saw as she detached herself from the building's wall and came closer to the car. "Stranger alert! Car stopped front door, silver beemer," Harry immediately reported on the radio, and he saw two other ferals step out of the clinic and glare at the intruding car.The beemer's door opened and Harry's eyes bulged. He breathed in deep and held it. It was The Man! Wow! With a gesture, he stopped the other from approaching the car and the driver. "Step back, it is Dr. Adam Kane!"Respectfully, Harry approached the visitor. "Need any help, doctor?" He had to force himself to speak, so in awe he was of the Man, who actually smiled at him!"Yes, thank you," the Man answered pleasantly. "I have two suitcases with fragile equipment to the clinic, drugs and medicine. If you help me get them in, I can have them properly stored and classified." And the Man opened the beemer's trunk.Harry easily lifted the suitcases and followed the Man, two steps behind him. The feline feral by the door opened the way to the Underground's creator and they entered the clinic."Lets take the suitcases to the Pharmacology lab," instructed the Man."Do you need any assistance with the storage, doctor?" Harry asked, hoping the Man would say yes."No, thanks, I can manage." And he flashed his warm smile to Harry. "And warn the security guards that I'll check the whole premises. I'll be walking around a lot, and I'll be in the most unusual places.""Yes, sir." Harry almost saluted. "I'll go back to my station, then."Three hours later, Harry Bloomenfeld, canine feral on tour of duty for the Underground, saw the Man In Black, Adam Kane, creator of MX and the Underground, the mutant protection network, leave the hospital's building carrying two now evidently empty suitcases, wave him a good-bye and board his silver BMW. Harry waved back, sighed, proud of the small measure of help he was able to provide, and followed the car as it left. Harry watched as the car distanced itself from the building and, in the distance, he thought he saw a strange light glow inside the vehicle. 'It's just a trick of light, nothing more.'Inside the car, the image of the Man In Black coalesced into the real features of the blonde man with spiky hair. Aidaan Malone, shapeshifter and New Order operative, looked back at the imbeciles guarding the hospital door, and grinned, cold and cruel.

Mission accomplished.

From Bad To Worse

Sanctuary, 7 PM:

Donna was in her room taking a nap after having an exhausting day helping Mutant X set up The New Chaos, she liked what Adam had called them, at the clinic. She had been keeping on high alert with her powers after the bad feeling that she got in the clinic. Adam had told her after they had gotten back that she should rest. But that didn't help. She kept tossing and turning on the bed trying to relax but she couldn't. Her whole body was a twisted tied up nerve. She finally got up and took her comb out of her purse and tried to put some order back into her long curly hair. Walking back to place the comb back into her purse she got a huge hit. A sensation that she had never had before in her life. A wave that made her sick to the bone. It also made her collapse to the floor. She couldn't stand up to save her life and she was terrified. She remembered what Adam had told her at the clinic.Jim and Blair, Sam and Cory were with Jesse and Brennan in the dojo, Adam had thought that it would be good for them to train, especially Blair because he needed to learn how to protect himself as well. Cat was off to herself and Rev, Angela, Shalimar, and Emma were all at the workstation talking and going over the schematics to the clinic. Mac, Lux, Jax, and Adam were in Adam's office talking about what their next plan of action would be."Well, Addy, you did have some doozies back in school. Maybe you can use one of those." Mac said to his old friend."Yeah well, those were pranks and gags we all did to amuse ourselves and out fox each other remember?" Adam replied.Lux piped up, "Adam, I would like to hear some of these stories after everything is over."Jax agreed, "So would I.""You wanna hear some good ones well I will tell you about the time when Adam and his posse of trouble makers were in the physics lab with the rest of us and we were trying to see who could......" There was a signal going off."Excuse me while I interrupt this one. I really don't think that they should hear this if it is the story I think that you are about to tell. Answer?" Adam answered the Com-Link.No sound came for several moments and then, "Adam?""Donna?" he looked at the others, her voice did not sound right.  "Is something wrong? Did you get a hit?""I need help." was all that the terrified psionic could say and then she passed out.Sanctuary, The Lab Ten Minutes LaterAs Donna slowly opened her pain filled eyes she could see everyone gathered around her in a room that she wasn't in before she blacked out. She recognized it almost immediately as the lab. She was in the exam chair and Adam was checking her vitals on the monitor and then he came over to her side and looked down at her. "Donna? How are you feeling?"She couldn't speak, she did feel a hand holding her's. Donna looked over and saw that Blair was by her other side giving a worried smile down at her. Pain shot through her head when she had moved her head and she said finally, "Oh, I shouldn't have done that." and she held her head with her free hand.Blair looked up at Adam and then back to Donna and repeated Adam's question, "How are you feeling?""Like I just got kicked in the head by a million ferals.""Well, Mainframe, at least you have a sense of humor." Jax said laughing."Jumping Jax, I would rather have my sense of humor and get rid of this sense altogether. My friend." Donna tried to sit up but she couldn't."Don't try. You need to rest." Adam said putting a hand on her shoulder."Rest is what did it." and she covered her eyes and face with her hands."Why are they getting so strong. I hate this power!" Donna moaned."Maybe they are getting stronger because you have been using them a lot lately. What with the Foundation, Alex Tremayne, and then all of this. It is no wonder. Your telekinetic powers are increasing, why not your empathic precognitive ability. All muscles get stronger the more they are flexed."When the frightened psionic uncovered her face both of her eyes were filled with tears. Adam squeezed her shoulder and with a look at the others indicated that they should give them a moment. They all left but Blair who stayed by her side. "You can stay of course. Donna," he pulled up a wheeled stool, "why do you hate it?"Donna looked down at her hands and was still upset and she started to cry. Blair said to her, "Donna honey, tell Adam. He can help you. You know he can."She looks up at her leader and still silently sobbing says, "It was the first power that came out and when it came out something really bad happened to me."Adam understood fully what she was talking about. "When those guys attacked you?"Donna looked stunned, she thought that she erased all of that from every computer she could get her hands on so to speak. Telecyberly that is. "How do you know about that?" she sniffled. Adam handed her a tissue."Mac told me. I wanted to find a way to get you to join us here permanently with Mutant X so I asked him how and he said that you would never leave your job in Cascade and then told me why.""I had a bad feeling that whole day and didn't know why. And then that happened and after that I understood why. I mean my telekinesis made me realize that."Blair added, "She has gotten stronger since I met her.""Adam, I have a really bad feeling about something and I don't know what it is. Stronger than anything I have ever felt. I wish that I could just have a vision and get it over with. Please help me!" Donna cried again softly this time."I'll do everything I can. I promise you" Adam said to his young friend. "In the meantime I am going to give you something to help you relax. Your feelings are getting stronger. The only problem is that they are growing faster than you can keep up with them. You really need to get some rest. Go get ready for bed and in about thirty minutes I will come and check on you." Blair and Adam escorted Donna out of the lab and Blair led her to her room and left her there to get ready."How's she doing Chief?" asked Jim."Yeah, is she going to be okay?" Sam also asked."She's having a rough time with these hits that she is having and I don't know if she can take much more of it. They are growing stronger and stronger. Man, I wish I could help her."Well, Indy, Donna's got all of us to give her support. Isn't that right Dad?" Sam said giving his brother a big pat on the back."She's already family to us so of course we will be there for her." Mac said to his eldest son.  
  
"And she's got me too. I've always liked her Indiana Jones." Cory said using the full nickname that Sam had given Blair a few years ago.Blair said to his younger brother and former photojournalist, "Thanks Jimmy Olsen, Cory, Dad. That means a lot to me. And I think that it would mean a lot to Donna. I'll be sure to to tell her that tomorrow."Sanctuary, Donna's Room:Adam knocks on the door. Donna opens it with her telekinesis. She is sitting on her bed with a pair of old biker shorts on and a big T-shirt. "Hey, GryphonLady. Are you feeling any better.""Not really. I keep having that feeling. I wish I had Lux's visions so that I knew what was going to happen. This is killing me not knowing.""Get in there and cover up. There you go. Now this will put you to sleep almost instantly." Adam said holding up the syringe. "Tomorrow I will get Emma to help you in controlling your ability a little better.""Thanks, Adam." Donna said"Your welcome sweetheart. Goodnight." Adam said smiling down at Donna."Goodnight." She said. And he gave the sedative to Donna and she was out. He gave her a peck on the forehead just like a proud father would his child and left the room. He met the Cascade Group outside of the door."She's going to be okay. She just needs a little rest. I gave her the sedative and that should help." Adam then walks back to his office.Angela walks up to the anthropologist and his Sentinel and family and says, "Don't worry, GryphonLady will make it through this. She's tough."


	33. VISIONS

Visions

"Ready?" asked Revolution.

"Yep," replied Max Monroe."What are you two doing?" asked Emma."Putting the new security net online," replied Revolution "It's supposed to work like a high tech low jack.""Huh?" asked Shalimar."It's a thing they put into dogs and cars," exclaimed Max "So that they can be tracked.""But how can we track New Order?" asked Jesse "Whose gonna get close enough to plant a bug in each of them? Cat?""No," replied Revolution "Its much simpler than that. Max...Run test."The young telecyber nodded and the others watched in amazement as the program ran."Riley, did you write that program?" asked Adam."Uh huh," she replied as she typed in a sequence "With my boy Max's help."Max mock saluted Adam."Just doing my duty," he said,"MAXWELL!!" yelled a voice offscreen."Oh Balls!" whispered Max "I forgot I was grownded. Talk to you later.""Bye Max!" they all said.Adam placed a hand on Revolution shoulder."Nicely done," he said."Thanks," she replied."Guys!" yelled Cat "Breakfast is ready!""Mmm...Computer work make Rev hungry," she grunted.Jesse laughed and kissed her gently.Donna looked over at Cat as the feral hustled around the kitchen."You should tell them," she whispered.Cat stopped dead in her tracks."Tell who, what?" she asked feigning innocence."Don't play dumb with me," replied Donna "You should tell the others about your assasin training, or at the very least tell Riley and Brennan.""Tell us what?" asked Revolution as she walked into the room."That we are out of Apple Jacks," stuttered Cat."Damn!" said Revolution "Mmm...Bagels."Lux's head darted around. Damnit Jax! she thought as she began to slip into a very powerful vision. Where are you?"Help!" she whispered to no one.Donna was furious at Cat but she understood her reluctance to share. She shook her head and walked out of the kitchen."OH MY GOD!" she yelled when she saw Lux.The beautiful woman's face had turn a dark red."I can hear them," she whispered to Donna "The children are crying, My friends are hurt. People are dying, bombs are going off and no one can stop them.""Jesus!" yelled Jax when she saw her."Jax...The Orphanage. Someone is going to destroy it and kill our children." whispered Lux.  
  
Jax wrapped her arms around her boss and rocked her back in forth."We'll stop them," she whispered "I promise. Watch her, Mainframe?"Donna swallowed hard and nodded. Jax let go of Lux and dashed off to the Computer lab to hook up with The Ring. Donna looked over at Lux, her face returning to some resemblance of normalcy."No..." whispered the young leader "It doesn't get better."Donna watched her in shock as she followed Jax to the lab.

&&&

"Do you think they got there in time?" asked Revolution as Jesse helped her into the car.

"We'll know soon enough," he said "Right now, we have the clinic to deal with."Revolution nodded and bit her lip."We're gonna get through this, right?" she asked.He kissed her."I hope so," he whispered "I hope so."


	34. IN A HEARTBEAT

In a Heartbeat

They were all scattered through the five stories above ground and another five stories underground of MX's new private clinic, registered under their public persona, Axis Research and Development. All of them had their eyes opened, looking for anything that might seem out of normal. At the same time, they all admired the slick lines and practical design of the hospital's many wards, offices and infirmaries. On the first floor, directly through the front door, were the reception and patient admittance desks, the ER facilities, connected to the ambulance entrance was on the back. On the second floor, operating rooms, semi-intensive, post-surgery care units and the fully operational ICU capable of holding twenty Intensive Care patients. The third floor held the maternity ward, nursery, neo-natal ICU, delivery rooms and private regular and special rooms for mutant mothers with special needs. On the fourth floor, there were regular and special needs rooms for admitted patients, and on the fifth floor, doctors offices and administration. The hospital was even larger underground, the five stories sprawling under the whole range of the parking lots. The real mutant-oriented clinic and hospital facilities were underground, besides the Pathology, Pharmacology, Serology and Hematology laboratories and blood bank. There were state-of-the-art computer and laser diagnostic, genetic manipulation, therapy and research units only found before in Sanctuary, as well as the special units for podding and restraint of mutants deemed capable of harm to themselves of others. It was a hospital planned and designed for the special needs of the mutant population MX had sworn to protect.

"I must admit, Kane, I'm impressed," praised Zack Coniglario, flicking his forked tongue and looking around the genetic therapy laboratory. "We don't have anything like it back home, do we, honey?"Dr. Makenna Coniglario was also highly impressed. This was a golden opportunity to establish a joint-venture for research on mutant-oriented treatments and therapies, and maybe, in the future, build a simmilar facility in the Ring's West Coast base. With a sigh, she sent a little prayer to her friends back home. Lux's vision were always accurate and the attempt on the orphanage was too close for comfort. The children were evacuated from the building and the bomb squad was still working. First St. Mike's, now the orphanage... The New Order was more than a nuisance, it was an outright disaster!Discreetly but thoroughly, MacGyver, expert on explosives, was combing the building with Jim Ellison, Jax MacManus, Brennan Mulwray, Jesse Kilmartin, Cory Buchanan and Sam Malloy. They had spread through the building with the classic question on their heads, "If I were a bomb, where would I be hidden?"On his way to the lower underground level, Jim Ellison stepped into the Genetics Lab, while MacGyver, Buchanan and Sam were already down another level, giving Pathology and Hematology the once over. He greeted Adam, Makenna and Zack and started his search, reaching out with his heightened sentinel senses.Emma DeLauro, Shalimar and Cat were examining the fourth and third floors while Riley Jackson and Lux Windsor were on the fifth floor, in the director's office, glued to the computer system, following the work of the bomb squad disarming the charges rigged in the Ring's orphanage in Southern California. So far, three C-4 charges had been deactivated, two orders remained hot, waiting for the experts to get to them.Angela Fontenelle, Donna Gryphon and Blair Sandburg were on another terminal, in contact with Cascade PD's captain Simon Banks. With the frustrated bombing of the Ring's orphanage, Cascade's safehouse was a potential target. Joel Taggart was on his way to check on the premises. As Donna typed the address on the Instant Messenger window, a strange hand seemed to grip her heart and squeezed it hard. She pushed the chair away from the desk and the keyboard, gripped her chest with her right hand and turned to Blair, her face drained of color. Icy cold sweat trickled down her back, between her breasts, drenching her clothes. The pain in her left arm and side was unbearable as her heart skipped beat after beat and her blood pressure plunged. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she slipped to the floor.Angela wasted no time, helping Donna lay down on the carpeted floor. Her taloned fingers ripped the front of Donna's T-shirt and pulled off her bra, while she flicked her comring. "Adam, quick! Donna's got a hit and it's giving her a coronary! She's going into cardiac arrest! I need epinephrine here and a defib! Hurry!" And she started CPR, hoping against hope they'd get there fast enough."Lux, help her!" yelled Revolution."I don't dare! It's her precog power that's making her arrest!" answered a frantic Lux Windsor. "My own precog power would only make her condition worse.""She's not responding! Adam, where are you?" Angela was desperate, helpless. Her dearest friend, sister in fire, to whom she owed her sanity and her very life was dying beneath her hands. They were in a fully functional hospital, only still non-staffed and on the fifth floor, in a regular office. There would be no time to get her down to Cardiology. And where was that defib!"What's going on here?""Jesse! Thank God! Help me here!" the bird feral yelled.The molecular ran to her side and knelt down. "What can I do? I'm not Brennan to restart her heart!""You can be just as effective!" answered Angela. "Hold my wrist and phase my hand."Jesse did as he was told, phasing the gnarled, ugly hand of the bird woman. Angela inserted her intangible hand just beneath Donna's left breast, under the diaphragm muscle. Angela would have given her life for five minutes with X-Ray vision. "Now," she instructed very softly, "start massing it up little by little until I can feel her heart in my hand. Yes... A little more... Enough, I have it..." And she started rhythmically to open and close her hand, delicately massaging Donna Gryphon's heart until the psionic head jerked back and a strangled gasp escaped from her mouth. "Phase it again so I can pull it out, Jesse." She pulled her hand out of Donna's chest and Jesse stood up, his breath caught in his chest. He had never tried anything like that! Turning around, he fell back on his knees, covering his face with his hands as Riley pulled him to her chest and held him tight.Framed by the office's door, Makenna Coniglario saw it all and jumped into action. She bolted to Donna's side, pushing Blair out of the way. An already prepared long needled epinephrine syringe was inserted directly into the psionic's heart, while Angela checked her heartbeat and blood pressure, slowly returning to normal levels."Where the hell's Adam, anyway?" asked the bird feral."In the genetics lab with that tall guy in a crew cut," answered the human doctor. "The man seems to have slipped into a trance."Waking up from a panic stupor, Blair Sandburg shoot up from his kneeling position by the side of the woman he loved and screamed, "Jim!" He hit the hallway running to help his sentinel.  
  
&&&  
  
The smell was very faint, wafting its way through his nose to his brain, acrid, acidic, running below the usual hospital smells of alcohol and disinfectant... It was an alien smell, almost intangible, but present in the air. Where was it coming from? Everything else was grey and fuzzy, no color, no taste... The world was echoing far and no touch could reach his mind, submerged in a sea of smells and sensations. Where was it coming from?Softly, gently, a voice lightly touched his brain with silk tones, reassuring, coaxing, calling from another dimension, another time, another space. He had to come back, return to reality. Come back, Jim... Don't lose yourself in one sense... Don't drown in one sensation only... Come back... Come back...The hand on his arm was solid enough, the grip on his shoulder, firm and friendly. Little by little, Jim Ellison's ears registered the voice calling him back to the world of five senses, pulling the threads of his mind and tying them back to solid reality. He knew the voice, only not as a guide's voice. But a guide it was, not his, not Cory's, not Mac... "Dr. Kane?!""You zoned out," the scientist answered. "I brought you back to reality the way I read described on Blair's paper."Jim Ellison's eyes were bulging. Then... this mans was... yes, it made sense... Someone who dedicated his life to helping, instructing and protecting others might just be... No time for that! "Out!" he yelled. "Everybody out! There's C-4 in the building and I think I know where it is!"

Bad Company

They poured out of the building, exiting through the main door, the ferals jumping from second and third floor windows. Angela, with Donna Gryphon craddled in her arms, and Revolution, the flyers, left through the skylights and flew to the other side of the parking lot, alighting on top of a tall building. Angela's eagle eyes swept through the neighborhood, searching for any sign of strangers. On her lap, Donna was slowly returning to normal. "What happened?" she asked.

"Your last hit gave you a heart attack, dear," answered the bird feral. "And Jim found explosives in the building.""Where?"  
  
"Everywhere. They're hidden in the security cameras all over the place, in key positions. If they go off, the building will collapse," answered the feral."And where's everybody?" asked Donna."Out on the parking lot," answered Revolution. "Mac, Adam, Brennan, Jesse, Jim, Cory and Jax are still inside."&&&  
  
"Very clever," mused MacGyver, as he carefully unscrewed and lifted the side of the third security camera. "They're all rigged together. One goes off, all go off.""Who could have replaced the real cameras?" asked Adam, unscrewing the fourth camera attached to a pillar. He could see all cameras were placed on pillars. "This place was heavily guarded by ferals we trust. Nobody stayed in the building long enough to do that!""According to the security log, Dr. Kane, it was you," Cory piped from the nearest computer terminal. "You were here last night and stayed in the building for four hours.""I was here? You know I never..." Adam started."#%$ Aidaan Malone," growled Jax, as her eyes glowed bright yellow. "It was that son of a bitch, the pox on him!"MacGyver was studying the rigging device attached to the camera. It was no good. Even if he disabled one of them, there was another dozen cameras scattered through the building. And if even one of them blew up, the others would follow suit. He had to find the central trigger. "Adam, there are three central columns on your building's design. The other pillars assist them, but the main weight is supported by the three main structure columns. The trigger must be on one of them, with the bulk of the explosives.""The basement, where we store oxigen and nitrogen tanks," offered Adam. "If a bomb goes off down there, this place will turn into a bonfire.""I'm going down there now," and Mac turned to leave."I'm with you," added Adam."No! I'm going alone. You're out of here." A little before departing to Viet Nam, MacGyver had met the then impossibly young overachiever while on a special chemistry course at Stanford. Mac was twenty years old, Adam was fifteen, they pulled prank after prank on one another, and became friends for life."This is my hospital, Mac. I have a responsibility.""And I am the bomb expert. Out! All of you!" As Mac looked at Brennan Mulwray, the young elemental grabbed his mentor by the arm and started pulling him out of the building. If necessary, he'd zap him unconscious and carry him out."Jesse!" called Adam. "Stay with Mac! Don't let anything happen to him!"&&&  
  
As Adam, Brennan, Cory, Jim and Jax exited the building, Angela's eagle eyes continued to watch the surroundings. And she saw as four cars approached the clinic from the four corners of the block. She flicked her comring, "We have company."The cars stopped, blocking the four corners.The Alliance naturally split in four groups, with all mutants surrounding their leaders, Adam and Lux. Angela, sitting the now almost fully recovered Donna behind the railing, pointed the building on the other side to Revolution, so they could have one flyer on either side of the parking lot. She watched the young telekinetic silently float to her aloted station. Signaling that her friend should stay put, Angela quickly flew to the third building, the one facing the clinic. The three flyers were stationed in a triangle overlooking the parking lot, ready to react.From the corner guarded by the Cascade Group, came a tall and wiry black man with long dreadlocks and a slender Oriental woman, graceful as a fully trained kung fu fighter, followed by two other man, eyes glinting feral as they looked at the surrounded defenders.From the corner facing Jax, Emma, Jack and Makenna, came two men, one blonde with spiky hair and a dark one, with long curly locks gathered in a ponytail. They were also followed by two feral, women this time.From the corner facing Brennan, Shalimar and Cat, came a strange man, with large shoulders and narrow hips, long armas and big hands, and a tall, thin girl with long straight blond hair and big blue eyes, walking as if on top of a surfboard. The eyes of the two ferals following the couple glowed green in the fashion of reptilians.From the corner facing Adam and Lux, the tall figure of Nickolas Lareou appeared, followed by a small man dressed in white and turban and the now well known cruel features of Alex Tremayne.The New Order was paying a visit.


	35. CLASH OF TITANS

Clash of Titans Part 1

Mac and Jesse ran down the stairwell to the lowest level of the huge hospital. The basement held pipes, ducts, tanks full of chemicals, all the veins and arteries needed so the whole building would function as a living body. Three columns, as the body's spines, stood in line, supporting the bulk of the building's weight. Other columns shot up from the corners, assisting the three pillars in their structural job. Quickly, Mac and Jesse spotted the camera high up on the central column, innocent looking, but much bigger than the other cameras found around the building. Jesse turned to Mac, "You know, if this thing goes off, we're toast power or no power."

"Then we musn't allow it to go off," retorted the older man, as he carefully unscrewed the side of the camera.&&&  
  
Outside, dark clouds were rolling and gathering above and thunder could be heard in the distance. Light was fading fast as a storm formed in the sky over the hospital."Adam Kane, I presume." Nickolas Lareou grinned. He had them outnumbered and surrounded. "Hello, Lux. Long time, no see.""Not nearly time enough, Nick," returned the Ring's leader. "You got St. Mike's, but missed the orphanage, you know?""Too bad. Your visions have always been a nuisance, Lux," answered the renegade, pleasantly. "Your safehouse in Cascade was my consolation prize, though."The hearts of all Cascade Group sank. What had happened to their friend Joel Taggart?&&&  
  
MacGyver studied the small timer in the palmtop linked to the mass of plastic explosive. On the pillar's surface, more plastic explosive was attached to the concrete, it's color perfectly matching the surface. The bomber had used a handheld computer to rig the explosive's trigger. To a mere human explosives expert, it would have been impossible to disable. With the help of a certain molecular, though, they might stand a chace.&&&  
  
"I'd hoped I'd see this architectural masterpiece of yours blow up sky high with you inside, Kane." Lareou let a long sigh out. "Nothing is perfect, is it? Pity! What a show it would be." And he picked a palmtop from his back pocket.Three telekinetics shot their hands and snatched the device from the New Order leader, holding it in midair. Lareou wasn't intimidated. He just looked at the Oriental woman. Yukio Mishimoto withdrew two steps behind Ntobo and the ferals, picked up her own handheld. Numbers, symbols, icons started running through her skin and her eyes glowed bright blue."To me!" yelled Donna Gryphon, pulling the floating palmtop to her hand."NO! You're not strong enough!" shouted the bird feral.Too late. Clutching the small device, Donna turned her back to the mutants and humans below and sank behind the railing, her body glowing equations, icons and symbols. Pink light glowed from the top of the building like a beacon.Blond surfer Bree Williams bent her knees in a ballet movement and hit the ground with her fist, sending a ripple through the earth as if hitting water directed to the center of the parking lot. Brennan Mulwray rolled his hands in a circle, gathering energy for a blast. That very moment, Windell Mann lifted his arms and brought them down fast. Rain poured from the sky like a shower, electrocuting the young elemental. Cat screamed and lunged at the nearest feral. Lux Windsor ran to the stunned elemental and spread her palms over his heart. Her eyes and Brennan's skin under her hand shone white. Lux withdrew her hand as soon as the young man opened his eyes, preserving her strength for the fight.&&&  
  
Donna's glowing cyberbody stepped into the circuits of a huge motherboard. Everywhere, information in the form of sparks ran through brightly lit conduits that looked like freeways  
photographed at night, headlights leaving brilliant collored trails through the picture. Reaching out with her mind, she located her foe and jumped into one of the light tubes, flying like a rocket to the exact point where Yukio Mishimoto was about to trigger on the software that would blow the hospital, everything and everybody in it to smithereens. As the Oriental lifted her fist to hit "return", a missile smashed against her chest, sending her flying against a wall of lead lights, disrupting the cyberhighway and exploding in cyphers and blinking sparks."Donna Gryphon, we meet again," hissed the Japanese woman."And again you're just leaving," Donna shot back.&&&  
  
In the hospital's bowels, MacGyver delicately unscrewd and detached the palmtop's front panel. The tiniest circuits and boards appeared beneath the plastic surface. One wrong movement and they'd be fondly remembered by their loved ones.&&&  
  
The parking lot had become a battle ground.The earth trembled under their feet as Bree Williams hit the pavement with her fists as if it was a drum. The tarmac broke in a crack that ran in the direction of Jack and Makenna Coniglario. The reptillian feral, eyes glowing green, grabbed his wife by the waist and rolled to safety, pushing her to a corner, protected by a large garbage bin. His retractable fangs grew in his mouth, giving him the appearance of a vampire and his forked tongue darted out as a lizard feral from the New Order jumped at him, clawed hands reaching for his throat.Mumbata Ntobo shot vines from the cement floor at Ellison and Buchanan, who were fighting the feral soldiers. Though human, both were sentinels and highly trained, their heightened senses giving them an edge to fight the mutant animals that lunged at them. Blair and Sam, Swiss army knives opened and sharp, cut the vines that threatened to tie and strangle them, as they tried to get to Ntobo and cut his connection to the ground.Jax McManus faced a woman feral. They circled, eyeing each other. Suddenly, the woman cackled a high pitched laugh and leapt at Jax's face. The lioness tackled the hiena woman  
avoiding her outstreched hands with a somersault, at the same time kicking her in the back, as her eyes seached for her real intended target, but it was now impossible to know where Aidaan Malone, the shapeshifter, could be found.At Jax's side, Shalimar Fox jumped as the dark man in a ponytail shot her a cloud of acidic gas. The blonde feline feral landed low on bended knees and swept her leg under Yanos Panarides, kicking his feet from under him. The chemical elemental rolled over his side and rapidly stood up, attacking Shalimar with tear gas.Viciously kicking the fearl she fought in the face, Cat turned directly to Lareou and lunged at him. "Knock me out," she whispered. "I don't want to fight you." Turning her over and imobilizing the cat in a half-nelson, Lareou shot her a sonic blast that exploded her eardrums, turning the light of the world off for her. He shoved her limp body to the side.From her vantage point above the building, Revolution watched as the tiny man in a turban clenched a fist. His hand turned into a blue ball of fire and he hurled it directly to Lux Windsor's turned back, a killing bullet of horrible death. Leaping from the ceiling, Riley Jackson hovered over the battle ground. One hand outstretched, she stopped the ball of fire midway and hurled it back at the Sikh, who ducked and let it pass over his head, hitting the garbage bin in front of Makenna Coniglario. The human doctor screamed and jumped to the side. Lareou looked up and released a sound blast that slammed Riley against a wall, stunning her.

&&&

Two glowing bodies floated in cyberspace, their movements in slow motion were a deadly dance that sent sparks and fireflies all over the information highway every time they connected. A kick from the slant eyed digicyber sent a weakened Donna Gryphon against the strands of light running behind her and only her telekinetic power could stop her from disappearing into the depths of the system. Flying back on determination only, the multi-psionic slammed against the digicyber making her body crash against the motherboard. To Donna's horror, the Oriental mutant seized the chance to slam her fist against the return key, but her arm passed all the way through the board as it flickered and blurred. The Japanese woman retrieved her hand fast and looked up to Donna in total confusion. The board seemed to be pulled out of the system, disappearing before their very eyes. Donna jumped in action and grabbed the digicyber's arm and twisting it, the sole of her boot found Yukio's back and pushed hard. With a round kick of her right foot, Donna knocked the New Order operative out and her glowing body dissolved through the circuits and lead lights covering the bright cybernetic world. Sinking to her knees, Donna Gryphon let her cyberbody dissolve back into her solid form on top of the building. Her exhausted body slid to the side and her limp hand let go of the now blank palmtop.

&&&  
  
"Good, now mass the tip of the pincers just a little, around the chip," instructed MacGyver."I can feel it." Jesse Kilmartin's brow was covered in sweat, his concentration unwavering. This was precision work, extremely dangerous. One mistake and they'd be history. First Donna, now this. Tough day at the office."Now, phase it and pull the chip out. Slowly.""I did the same thing fifteen minutes ago, with Angela." And Jesse pulled out a tiny round black dot, the size of a head of a pin, from inside the palmtop. The screen went blank and he blew out the breath he was holding inside.&&&  
  
The ground was shaking under their feet, rain poured relentlessly from the overcast sky. The Alliance fought with valour but the tips were favoring their foes. It was necessary to cut Bree Williams connection to earth, put her out of comission. Leaping over Brennan's still unconscious body, Adam slammed his feet against Bree's chest, sending her sprawling against the hospital's front steps. For a moment, the earth stopped it's tremor and Adam straddled the stunned terraformer. Pinning her shoulder to the steps, he lifted his right hand to strike a blow that would have knocked the elemental out. A man's hand grabbed Adam's and jerked him back up to his feet. "I should have killed you when I had the chance, Adam Kane," growled a triumphant Alex Tremayne. "Time to correct my mistake." And a violet light enveloped the older man, glowing darker by the second.From violet to purple to black, the sickening light of Tremayne's power shot from their locked hands to dominate and surround the man in black's whole body. Adam felt his knees buckle under him, his sight blurr as his body temperature skyrocketed. The renegade molecular drove the full force of his deadly power, turning whatever microorganisms Adam Kane might naturally carry in his body into a lethal carrier of unrelenting death, congesting lungs, infesting blood, infecting membrane and killing his victim of natural causes. Want to stop an army? Stop the general. And this one was dead already.From her perch up the building, Angela saw her falconer attacked and protective instinct took her over. Diving down, talons first, she aimed at Tremayne, ready to rip his face off. "Get the harpy!" shouted Lareou. A ball of fire hurled by the Sikh hit the bird woman directly in the face, sending her tumbling backwards until she hit the pavement.&&&  
  
MacGyver and Jesse ran from one corner to the other of the clinic disconnecting cameras full of plastic explosive. Havind disabled the main trigger, the other units weren't that hard to disengage.&&&  
  
He was dying. With his feverish eyes, he saw his allies fighting for their lives. The reptillian Zack Coniglario slaming a lizard feral against the small Pandiat Singh, knocking the Sikh off his feat and stopping the balls of fire from flying around; Shalimar tackling two ferals at once, punching and kicking like a she-devil; Jax, the lioness, rolling and sweeping Lareou's feet from under him, Brennan standing up and backhanding one of Shal's attackers. He was dying and his legacy with him. The New Order would dominate all mutants without Mutant X and the Ring to stop it. Mankind wouldn't stand a chance against a highly organized gang of renegade superpowered beings. His labored breath came in gasps, bringing a taste of blood to his mouth. The grip on his right hand was like a vise, burning and robbing him of whatever strength he still had. He was dying. He reached with his left hand, trying to grab something, anything that he might use to pull himself out of Alex Tremayne's killing grip.The hand that held his was cool and soft, yet strong and firm, infusing his ailing body with a refreshing shot of white light. In a superhuman effort, he turned his head to the source of relief. "Lux..." he whispered.Lux Windsor had Adam by the hand and poured all her healing power into him, seeking to drive Alex's black light back to the renegade mutant. The killer and the healer looked each other in the eye, a tug-of-war over the fate of the man who unwittingly created mutantkind, and now was a mere pawn in the struggle for his own life and the future of the whole world. Without him, Lux would be alone, the only force to block Lareou's power crazy march over the planet. Adam would not die, she wouldn't let him. There was much to be done, and she needed him. Tapping into the well of her own life force, drawing strength from her very soul, Lux Windsor pushed her white light against Alex's blackness.As the tug-of-war raged over him, Adam looked around, alternatingly through dark and white light. The fight was almost over, those who remained standing from the two bands stopping to watch the combat between light and darkness. The winner of that clash would triumph that day. Only the most strange of battles still went on in full force. He thought he was surely delirious... That couldn't be... He was either hallucinating or altogether losing his mind... A wolf, a jaguar, a tiger and a hawk were attacking a forest of living, howling trees... From the right corner of his eyes, he saw a fox coming out of the hospital, his hospital and lunge at the moving trees, tipping the battle's odds in favor of the animals. Not ferals... animals... Painfully, he turned his head in Lux's direction and saw an owl flapping it's wings over her head, hooting angrily and showing its talons to Alex Tremayne.Lux herself was sinking to her knees, her life force drained, her white light dimming and running back into her body, chased by the black light emanating from Tremayne, who laughed out loud, anticipating the glory of singlehandedly killing both Adam Kane and Lux Windsor.   
  
Coming back to reality, Revolution and Donna Gryphon took in the situation. The fight was at a standstill, both the Alliance and the New Order were holding their breaths, waiting for the outcome of the tug-of-war between Lux and Tremayne, and Lux was losing, her light fading fast. With no time to think, both telekinetics floated to the healer's side and joined hands with her, adding their life force to fuel hers and using their power to push Tremayne's back. Lux Windsor's head snapped up and she came back to her feet, as three hands were clasped together in their own version of the power of a triad, the two additions to the white light side feeding their living energy to the healer. The Alliance's remaining forces fell back around their leaders in a protective circle. No one else would interfere. Come what may, this battle would be fought to the end.The bright white light now blazed, dazzling and pushing the black light through Adam's body back into the stunned Tremayne, now incapable of resisting the power of the psionic molecular healer aided by the two telekinetics. Shining ever more brightly, a pool of white light surrounded the three women and forced all the blackness into Tremayne's body in a rush of energy that exploded in a heart piercing scream as the owl plunged its talons into the renegade's chest, making his body fall flat on his back, eyes open and dead.


	36. AFTERMATH

Aftermath

It was deadly quiet in the parking lot. The festering body of Alex Treamayne had slumped to the ground in a heap, the last echoes of his screams still resounding in the air. The storm that hit only the hospital's block was now a faint drizzle. Lux, with Rev and Donna by her side, still clutched Adam's hand as he struggled to stand on his own and failed. The three women radiated power and seemed unfazed by the battle just won. Still glowing a dazzling white light, they turned and parted, each one a beacon of energy facing the stunned forces of New Order and blocking any attack with a glowing shield. The Alliance, banded together around them in a protective circle, now stepped behind the three telekinetics. The enemy had lost a soldier, other renegades were either stunned or injured. As they gathered their mates to leave the battle ground, Nickolas Lareou turned to Lux Windsor, hatred dripping from his eyes and his voice resonating with his power, sound waves hitting the wall created by the three psionics. "This isn't over."

"Not by a long shot."With the New Order's departure, the white light dimmed, as the black clouds parted, admiting again sunlight over the parking lot. The Alliance's forces were not unscathed, with Brennan and Adam showing signs of exhaustion, Cat stunned, blood dripping from her ears. Cuts and bruises abounded in various stages of severity. Jim Ellison sported a deep gash over his left eye and Cory Buchanan's leg was twisted in an unatural position as his bad knee had failed him in the heat of the fight against Ntobo. As Makenna Coniglario ran from one person to the other, and those in better shape helped more gravely wounded friends get into the hospital, the doors burst open. Mac and Jesse left the building, relief clearly illuminating their faces. Opening their hands, they let go of a dozen handheld computers, letting them clatter on the steps, cracking small screens and exposing their circuits, no longer capable of detonating the charges they had been attached to.With his arm around Shalimar's shoulders and her hand around his waist, helping his stand, Adam looked at his old friend MacGyver and his young protegée Jesse Kilmartin. Thanks to them, the clinic was intact and the New Order's plans, for now, thwarted. He reached for Mac's hand and smiled at Jesse. "Thank you, both of you.""What happened here? World War III?" asked MacGyver, as he overlooked the battle field."Close enough," answered Zack Coniglario, his fangs still visible, his forked tongue darting between his lips."Lets get everybody inside!" ordered Makenna. "Angela and I can take care of the injured.""Where is she?" asked Donna Gryphon."Last I saw, she dove from that building over there directly into Tremayne," answered Emma DeLauro, hands holding her hurting head where a rock had hit.Jax McManus's nostrils were flaring, trying to locate the bird feral's scent among the different smells that crowded the place. "She's around, but I can't locate her.""Wait." Leaning on Mac and Jesse, Adam placed his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and released a long and high pitched whistle, a call he knew his bird-of-prey would only leave unanswered in death.&&&  
  
The piercing sound tore at her ears, a needle in her brain, in her heart. As with the protective instinct that made her attack whoever threatened her falconer, his call could not go unheeded. The half of her that was bird went crazy trying to acknowledge the call. The half of her that was human only wanted to curl up, cover her eyes with the heals of her hands and scream, but whimpers came out of her throat. She felt blood, hot and sticky, rolling down her cheeks like tears. The piercing whistle sounded again, again her falconer called and this time there was no choice but to answer him. Where was it coming from? There was no light, the world had turned into a black pit with no way out.

Forcing one hand away from her face, she probed the broken concrete walls of the crater opened by the New Order's terraformer's power. Forcing her other hand away from her bloody face, she felt her way, breaking her talons on the rocks as she hauled up her body. She could feel the sun warming her hands and face, but there was no light, nothing but darkness and pain around her. She could hear now a woman screaming... Gasps and voices filled her ears as she tried to stand, but the ground was unstable, rocks or pieces of broken pavement rolled under her feet and she fell on her hands and knees, her head bent. Someone grabbed her by the shoulders above her folded wings and turned her, strong arms craddling her and pulling her to an inviting chest. "Hawkgirl..." she heard a whisper... and something hit her, a mindblast, plunging her into another kind of darkness, warm and tender, as her body relaxed in the lioness's lap, her head falling backwards, exposing for all to see the empty sockets where her eyes had once been.

Wounds of the Flesh, Wounds of the Heart

 "There's nothing there!"

Lux Windsor looked around in desperation, pouring white light from her whole body. Her hands covered Angela's eyes and part of her face, white light also shining under them. The psionic was starting to hyperventilate, the effort of healing now showing in the dark circles under her eyes, the palor of her skin and the beads of sweat sprouting from her brow. "I've healed everything else, inside as well as outside, all the burns, even the scarring, but there's nothing there! I can't grow her new eyes!" Lux was panting, the exertion of healing robbing her of what little control of her emotions she still had. Tears sprung from her eyes and rolled down. So many times she performed the impossible, she snatched preys from death's own clutches, but she had limits. She could only reconstitute, rebuild, she couldn't create anew what had been so completely lost. The unconscious bird woman didn't deserve that, not this kind of fate."Come, lass, you can do no more." Jax McManus held her boss's hands in hers and gently pried them from the bird feral's face. She had carried the wounded woman inside in her arms, her weight a pittance due to the hollow bones that helped her fly, her silky feathers brushing against Jax's cheek and neck.Adam took Lux's place by Angela's side. From a tray by the bed, he took gauze and delicately started bandaging his bird-of-prey's eyes. His own eyes stung and he furiously bit his upper lip, a gesture he had noticed Angela mirrored. Again, he berated himself. For that had he brought her from her country? He didn't even notice it, but his hands were shaking. "Let me," he heard a woman speak, and a smaller hand covered his."Thanks, Makenna, but I have to do it myself," he answered."Your hands are shaking.""Are they? Check again." Adam breathed in deep, closed his eyes for a split second and looked at his hands, now absolutely steady.Makenna Coniglario looked at the older man, shook her head and withdrew. There were wounds aplenty to tend to, as well as Lux's exhaustion to demand her attention.Adam finished up bandaging Angela's eyes, circling her head with gauze in a white blindfold and, with a light caress on her face, started putting the tools down. After covering the tray with a clean towel, he stopped, pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged his temples. Suddenly, he felt old and worn out. The life of a guerilla fighter demanded more than he had to give, more than he was willing to pay in blood and suffering.As he turned to help Makenna with the other injuries, he passed Donna Gryphon, crying softly, her head against Blair's chest. She held his arm, halting his way, and stood up, looking at him. Without another word, he followed her to a secluded corner of the room. After a long pause, Donna sighed. "I'm scared, Adam."Leaving the tray on a nightstand, he lifted her chin. "Tell me.""That was it," she said. "That was what my precog power was warning me about.""Are you sure?" he asked."Yes, I am," was the answer. "I was with her every time I had a hit. Every single time I was touching Angela. Or thinking about her." Donna Gryphon sighed again and crossed her arms tightly. "And I know who she is," the psionic whispered.Adam raised an eyebrow. "How...? She didn't... Ah..." and it downed on him. "The bond you share.""Yes," confirmed Donna. "The Foundation incident... After that horrible night, when Emma called... I went into a trance state and entered Angela's mind. I was there the whole night, while that toad... thing... raped her..." she couldn't go on, her own emotions, all she had lived and suffered herself overflowed and the words choked her.Adam closed his eyes and pulled Donna into his arms, holding her and rocking lightly back and forth until the tears subsided. He was deeply moved. This woman was amazing, a true hero. She had willingly relived the most horrifying event of her life in order to hold Angela's sanity intact in her moment of need."Since that night," she went on, "a little bit of me is always with her. And a little bit of her is always with me. I know everything about her, even what she managed to keep hidden while that bastard Thorne hit her sub-gov again and again, even risking brain damage."Adam nodded and his eyes wandered around the room, resting on Angela's unconscious form agan. He couldn't look at Donna, not now. From the moment he found out about the corruption of his life's work, guilt had been his best friend, his constant companion. Now, a fresh batch was added to his already staggering load. His eyes fell on Emma and she immediately lifted her head from her hands, looking straight at him. He knew his emotions were so overwhelming she felt them clearly through the maelstrom washing the hospital room. Yet, he kept a tight leash on himself, as usual. Done was done. If Donna knew Angela was his niece, daughter of his older sister, dead three years before, then so be it. He couldn't acknowledge her to the rest of the world, lest she become both a target for his enemies and a weapon against him, but it actually felt good to have someone other than himself and Angela in on it."And I know another thing, Adam," Donna went further on. "With flight and the freedom I now know it brings, Angela could withstand anything." Donna stopped, letting the greater tragedy sink in their hearts. "She's never had a lot, she had already lost so much. Now even that was taken from her. That's what scares me the most."Adam nodded again and, this time, looked Donna strainght in the eye, and she returned his gaze. "It scares me too, GryphonLady. It scares me too."


End file.
